When I Cleared the Death Game World, I Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble Even if They Talk About Doom Flags, I'm Actually Immortal. - Chapter 28

The day after spending the night at Ren’s house,

Lior once again headed for the forest.

His goal remained the same as yesterday: to complete the “Stone Wolf Subjugation” request.

(Another Land Wolf…? Are higher-ranked species supposed to appear this often?)

Lior stood before the massive corpse of a wolf.

Once again, he had encountered a Land Wolf.

Normally, such a rare creature shouldn’t appear two days in a row, yet here it was.

Tilting his head in curiosity, Lior began the dissection process.

Though it brought back unpleasant memories, he had learned how to do it yesterday, making the process much smoother this time.

Just as he was making progress—

(…Someone’s watching me?)

A sharp gaze pressed on him from behind.

Someone was observing Lior from within the thicket.

Placing a hand on his sword, he slowly rose to his feet.

“…Whoever’s been watching me, why don’t you come out?”

No response.

But thanks to his magic detection, Lior knew exactly where they were.

Would a little intimidation be enough to draw them out?

The moment he gripped his sword—

“It’s us. We met just yesterday, remember?”

Pushing aside the leaves, three familiar figures emerged—the adventurers Lior had saved.

The swordsman, the scout, and the mage.

For some reason, they all looked more haggard than they had the day before.

“…I hope you’re not expecting me to help with the dismantling again.”

“No, no, that’s not why we’re here.”

“Then what do you want?”

“We were looking for you to apologize for yesterday.”

“…Apologize?”

They had stolen credit for Lior’s achievement just the day before.

There was no way they had suddenly “reflected” on their actions overnight and come to apologize.

It was an obvious lie.

“Don’t insult me. There’s no way I’d believe an apology from you.”

“That’s unfortunate… Guess we’ll be leaving for today, then.”

With that, the trio walked away.

Their real intentions were unclear, but Lior couldn’t shake the feeling that they were up to something.

Uneasy, he resumed his work on the Land Wolf’s corpse.

◆◇◆◇◆

Upon returning to the guild, Lior presented the Land Wolf materials at the reception desk.

By coincidence, the receptionist handling the request was the same bespectacled woman who had scolded him yesterday.

“These are… Land Wolf claws and fangs!?”

“Yes. I defeated it on my own.”

“W-wait a moment. If you’re truly capable of taking down a Land Wolf alone, then that would mean yesterday’s claim was also…”

The receptionist furrowed her brows, deep in thought.

Now that Lior had slain another Land Wolf, it lent credibility to his previous claim.

After all, someone strong enough to kill a Land Wolf alone would have no reason to steal credit for another’s kill.

“…This warrants a proper investigation. We’ll need to summon the three adventurers from yesterday as well—”

“There you are, you damn brat!!”

“Ah, speak of the devils. Looks like they just arrived.”

A furious voice rang out from the guild’s entrance.

The trio of adventurers barged in, their eyes locked onto Lior with hostility.

“Perfect timing. I was just about to call for you—”

“Hold it right there!! That bastard stole our Land Wolf materials!!”

“…What?”

“Excuse me?”

The scout jabbed a finger at Lior, his voice rising in accusation.

The swordsman placed a hand on his shoulder, pretending to calm him down.

“We encountered another Land Wolf today and defeated it. But just as we entered the city, our bag of materials was stolen.”

“A bag of materials…?”

The receptionist’s gaze fell upon the bag Lior had just submitted.

“Oh, that’s the one! We didn’t see the thief clearly, but we did catch that they were small in stature… and, well, it seems our suspicions were correct.”

The swordsman smirked, his eyes gleaming with malice as he looked at Lior.

Murmurs spread through the guild, and soon, all eyes were on him.

(So this was their plan…?)

The reason they had been tailing him became clear.

They intended to claim that the materials Lior brought back were actually stolen from them.

And given yesterday’s controversy, his credibility was already in question.

They must have assumed they could fool the guild with their claim, however flimsy.

The receptionist’s glare grew sharper, her distrust evident.

“…I told you yesterday. False reports are—”

“Can I ask one thing?”

Lior had lost yesterday.

But he had no intention of letting them walk over him again.

“If I really stole your materials, why is there only one bag?”

“Huh?”

“Yesterday, the three of you dismantled the Land Wolf together, and each of you packed your own materials into separate bags, right? So why is there only one bag today?”

Yesterday, the trio had split the materials among three bags.

That was likely their standard practice.

Even when they submitted their request, they had handed over three separate bags.

Yet, the bag Lior submitted was only one.

A clear inconsistency.

“…That’s true. Normally, you three submit three separate bags. Why is it that today, you combined everything into one? If you had split them as usual, wouldn’t that have reduced the risk of theft?”

“T-that’s… well… we just felt like doing it differently today!!”

The swordsman’s voice cracked as he blurted out an excuse.

Lior, however, wasn’t going to let this slide.

The scout responded bluntly.

However, his excuse was far too flimsy. It wasn’t an answer that would satisfy the crowd.

In fact, the guild members who had been eyeing Lior now shifted their attention to the swordsman’s group.

Sensing that their position was weakening, the swordsman stepped forward.

“We just decided to change our approach. In the past, all three of us would dismantle the monster together, but that left us vulnerable to surprise attacks. So, we switched it up—two of us stood guard while one handled the dismantling.”

“And who was in charge of the dismantling?”

Lior’s question made the swordsman’s face twitch slightly in suspicion.

“…The mage did it.”

“Then, may I ask the mage a question?”

“H-huh? What?”

“Among the Land Wolf’s fangs that were submitted, one was noticeably chipped. Can you tell me which part of the jaw that fang came from?”

“A-a chipped fang!?”

“If you were the one who dismantled it, you’d know, right?”

“Uh, well… it was…”

The young mage’s eyes darted around in panic.

Sweat trickled down his forehead, his behavior growing more suspicious by the second.

“Th-the front teeth! Land Wolves use them for digging, so they tend to chip easily!”

“Wrong answer. None of the fangs were chipped.”

“…What!?”

“Besides, aren’t Land Wolf fangs made of a special alloy? I doubt they’d chip just from a little digging.”

“Ggh…!”

The mage was utterly defeated.

Now, all the scrutiny in the room focused sharply on the swordsman’s group.

Even the swordsman, who had been maintaining a stiff smile, was starting to show cracks.

“That was a stupid trick question. He just misspoke because he was nervous. That proves nothing.”

“You’re absolutely right. It proves nothing at all. But I’d say your credibility is crumbling by the second.”

“…!”

In the end, this argument couldn’t produce a definitive answer.

After all, there was no solid evidence.

In a world like Japan, forensic techniques—like analyzing fingerprints—could be used to determine the rightful owner of the bag.

But this wasn’t Japan. This was “Last Quest,” a fantasy world with no such conveniences.

Which meant this was a matter of trust.

Who sounded more believable? Who seemed more like a liar?

The outcome would be decided by the public’s perception of what seemed right.

“I lost yesterday. But I have no intention of losing again today.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. We just want you to admit to your crime.”

“I didn’t steal the materials. You’re the ones lying.”

“And where’s your proof?”

“If you need a witness, how about me?”

BANG!

The guild doors flew open with dramatic force.

Stepping inside was Ren.

For some reason, she was posing with a peace sign near her eye—striking a cool expression.

She even added a playful tongue-out “Tehe~” for effect.