Chapter 44 – I don’t know. (分からないのよ。)

"Miss Isabella, do you know something about the kidnapping....?"

Paul looked at me with concern, but even I didn't know how to explain this.

If I told him that I had heard rumours about the kidnapping, he would ask me where and from whom I had heard this information...

Besides, all my knowledge is based on the game from my past life, so I don't know how far that information will prove useful in the real world.

Just like the second prince, there might be something behind the scenes that wasn't told in-game, so I can't just say whatever...

Afterwards, I ate my omurice while fending off Paul's attempts to question me.

Ursch-kun... I'll explain everything later, so please stop staring at me.

It makes me feel somewhat scared and embarrassed, to the point I can't taste what I'm eating right now.

After lunch, the second prince immediately left to learn how to use a bow from Marcus-san, in order to train his skill manipulation.

As to why archery would be included in the training... According to Ursch-kun, it's impossible to suddenly shut off a constantly active skill.

From the constantly active state, you have to first be able to finely control it, only then can you gradually turn it off. Thus, being able to activate the skill with pinpoint accuracy comes first.

"Does that mean you know to use a bow and arrow too, Ursch-kun?"

When I asked Ursch-kun if he had also used a bow to train his "Eyes of Mammon", he unexpectedly shook his head.

"The second prince's ability is different from mine~ I trained my precision control by appraising a single point as detailed as I could, but His highness's ability is one to be used on people. I thought learning the bow would help him visualise his skill activation, and put together a personalised training method~"

I see~ Aiming with a bow would certainly fit the image of activating a skill on a specified target.

Maybe I should pick up archery too.

Ah on second thought, I don't need it. The hunter's skill set already includes "Archery", "throwing", "Spear throwing", "Dismantling" and many others (etc etc).

In a sense, this Job Skill is like a doc file.

When you have all the skills you need for a job skill, it turns into a file...or something.

Maybe a new Job Skill can be made depending on the combination? Like a ninja!

Assassin is such a disturbing title, so maybe it'll become ninja if I mix it with something else?

"By the way, why did you send Miss Amaryllis to learn the bow with the second prince? She had that spear-like fork, so I thought she was a melee fighter."

I had encouraged Allis-chan to go with his highness to learn the bow from Marcus-san.

"That's because Allis-chan has skills like throwing and sniping, so I thought she would be able to master the bow right away. Also, her level may have increased, but that EXP was gained from bombing the wurms into pieces. By no means is Allis-chan herself strong."

My level and status are high too, but I'm not very strong in a real fight.

It's the cons of raising my status via the game.

Aside from that, it's also to help deepen her relationship with the second prince.

"I see. If Miss Amaryllis plans to be an ally of Justice together with the prince, she needs to be able to handle something other than bombs too~ For the sake of the city buildings as well."

"Yup. Wide range bombing inside the city would cause enormous damage, so she needs to at least learn how to use pinpoint bombing before I can become a peddler without worry."

"Pinpoint bombing, huh... If she could do that, it would likely be used for military purposes, but Miss Amaryllis is an ally of the Second Prince, so it should be fine."

Pinpoint bombing itself was for military use in the first place.

Or for demolishing buildings.

"Hehe, pinpoint bombing does sound good though. If I made an item like that, do you think it would sell well?"

Ursch-kun, that's not an item, it's a weapon.

"Making it is fine, but could we please not sell it? It would be troublesome if we got targeted because of it."

"Alright, let's not sell it. It's not the kind of product that can be sold by peddlers anyway."

You were planning on peddling it??

A peddling weapons merchant just reeks of shady business vibes.

"By the way, about the attempted kidnapping from before...... Do you know something?"

"H~m, about that. It was knowledge from the game, so I was troubled on how to explain it to Paul-san."

Ursch-kun is the only one who knows that I'm a reincarnator, so if I tried to explain my game knowledge to others, I'd have to use excuses like “I heard it somewhere” or “I read it somewhere”, which would make it sound uncertain and extremely suspicious.

"From the game scenario? It has something to do with this time's kidnapping?"

"Yup. It was supposed to happen next year, when Gijs is 7 years old and attending his first tea party. But since Gijs participated in a tea party earlier than planned, I think the kidnapping was brought forward too..."

"H~m. But it ended in an attempt, so that's good."

"Actually, it's not good. Because when Gijs ran away, the world became aware of ‘The Colors Collector’, the criminal behind the kidnapping case. Since it was just an attempt, his existence is still left unknown."

And even if he fails, he won't give up until he gets his hand on his prey.

And with his failure from this time, he's bound to be more careful, and more troublesome to deal with.

"Is it that bad that the world doesn’t know about him?"

"According to the scenario, at least one pink-haired ten-year-old girl should have been kidnapped by him 6 years ago. Including that girl, there could have been up to twelve--No, eleven others since the kidnapping of Gijs failed."

"Why would the criminal kidnap up to twelve people?"

"For the twelve colored crayons."

"Huh? Crayons?"

"It doesn't have to be crayons, just imagine an art supply set of 12 colours. The criminal, 'Colors Collector' wants to collect people of 12 different hair colours to form a 12-coloured set. That's why he's known as the 'Colors Collector' or the  'Crayon Collector'."

On top of being a serial kidnapper, he was extremely obsessive, and wouldn't give up after selecting his prey. He really was troublesome.

As there aren't many with "blue hair" like Gijs, it might be why he's so persistent.

The capture targets, and the heroine. Even the regular characters had unique hair colours which excited him.

Incidentally, gold and silver are not included in the 12 colours, so the prince and I are safe.

However, Allis-chan who had black and Ursch-kun who had nude? or rather beige? -coloured hair was out.

If the two were targeted, I would do all I can to crush him, but even I struggled against him while having maxed stats in-game.

Currently my stats far exceed the max 999 of the game, but I couldn't relax.

".....Obsessed with twelve colors.....Isabella, can you tell me more details about that?"

"Sure."

The seven-year-old Gijs attended his first tea party at the residence of Count Underwood, the home of the Knight Commander's son, Brian Nic Underwood.

While taking a stroll in the garden at Brian's invitation, he was wrapped in a blue cloth and lost consciousness.

Brian was walking ahead with the other children, but when he turned around, he witnessed Gijs wrapped in the cloth and about to be taken away. He hurriedly gave chase, but the culprit escaped.

A search for Gijs and the kidnapper began immediately, and the perpetrator was quickly captured by the Knight Corps, but just as they were about to be questioned, the perpetrator vomited blood and died, and any leads on Gijs’s whereabouts were lost.

The kidnapped Gijs woke up in a basement-like place and spent the next two months in captivity.

There he met a seventeen-year-old woman with pink hair who encouraged him and kept his spirits strong.

She told him that when she was 10, she regularly visited her older sister who had just given birth, but she was kidnapped on her way back and has been held captive for seven years.

And that there were children with yellow and red hair, some younger than even Gijs, unable to ever escape.

One day, the criminal would let their guard down and the pink-haired girl would help Gijs escape from the basement.

In order to save everyone else, he desperately ran through the woods barefooted. After a day of running, he managed to escape to a place with people and gained the protection of the military police.

Gijs then collapsed with a fever, only waking up three days later. He immediately requested for the rescue of the other captives, but because seven-year-old Gijs was frantically running around and hiding while escaping, the precise location of the captives could not be determined.

A large investigation was conducted using Gijs’s vague information, but the place of confinement was never found and the search was called off three months later.

Being the only one saved, yet unable to save anyone else. Gijs was haunted by this fact and continuously regrets that he was unable to remember the confinement location.

Furthermore, the kidnapper repeatedly sent his men after Gijs to get him back, never giving him a chance to relax.

Yet in order not to worry the people around him, he hid his emotions behind a calm smile, never letting out his true feelings. Seeing this, Brian often accompanies Gijs everywhere, feeling responsible over what happened.

Eight years later, the 15-year-old Gijs enrolled in the magic academy and met a girl similar to the pink-haired woman he met in confinement.

That girl was the heroine.

The heroine was the niece of the woman who helped him escape from underground.

When the woman was ten-years-old, she was kidnapped on her way home after visiting the heroine, who was just a baby.

As he was saved by the heroine's aunt, yet unable to save her in turn, Gijs felt guilty towards the heroine.

And so, Gijs decided to help the heroine, whom that woman held dearly.

In the process, he learns of the heroine's positivity and honesty, and grew attracted to her.

But because Gijs felt guilty for not helping her aunt, he kept that feeling hidden in his heart.

But there was rapid development in Ver 2.

Although the kidnapper was only targeting Gijs at the beginning, they started targeting the heroine as well.

Because the 12 colour collection was "lacking a pink color", the pink-haired heroine was thus targeted to replenish it.

After learning of this fact, Gijs was nearly overwhelmed with regret for not being able to save her, but thanks to the heroine's support, he decides to confront the kidnapper, the "Colors Collector", along with Brian and the other love interests.

"At the end of Ver 3, they defeated the 'Colors Collector', freed the other captives, and buried the heroine's aunt who was preserved in ice. In front of her grave, Gijs declared, 'I will continue to protect the heroine' and ended his route with a happily ever after, but it was never specified where the confinement area was."

"Hmm~. So... what does the kidnapper look like?"

"Not a clue. Only that he was a fairly tall man."

"Huh? Why? Didn't you fight him?"

Yes, there was a fighting scene. But I didn’t know what the criminal looked like. Because.....

"The Colors Collector wore a pig head skin that covered his whole head, so I don’t know his real face, hair color or even age."

winter: I'm so so sorry for the long hiatus..... Really, really sorry.

I'm not gonna give any excuses, I'm just really sorry... Especially since I didn't give notice of the hiatus...

Anyways I'm back, the next few chaps are done and will be released weekly, and once again I'M SORRY