🟠 Chapter 45:
"Buying a cart from the market?"
This was the last step before heading to the gang's hideout — to complete our disguise plan.
But when Haizen heard the idea, he looked completely baffled and flat-out refused.
"I refuse this."
After all that, he refuses now?
I asked him why.
"Why don't you want to buy a cart? We need it for the plan."
"Buying a cart will be expensive."
I can't believe how stubborn he is. Does he ever think things through?
"What about Number Five? Do you want us to just walk around carrying a tied-up mummy?"
Number Five was in terrible shape after everything that happened and didn't say a word.
Haizen, on the other hand, kept insisting:
"Why don't we just hide him in the same stone the lizard is hiding in?"
"Don't be stupid. We need him with us — I need his voice. And why are you so obsessed with saving the prince's money? …Wait, maybe you just want to spend more!"
I said it without thinking, but he froze on the spot.
"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm not trying to spend money on swords or wigs!"
Unbelievable. He just admitted it.
Buying a cart and throwing some fruits or vegetables on top of us wouldn't cost that much.
After I insisted a bit more, he finally gave in.
"Fine, let's go with your stupid plan. But you take responsibility for wasting all this money."
Heh, once I called him out, he surrendered.
Finally, no more headache.
Haizen took the chest with him and went to buy the cart.
I waited with Number Five again, and a few minutes later Haizen suddenly appeared behind us… with the cart.
"Wait—how did you get that cart up here?"
"There were stairs in the corridor. I took those."
"Oh… okay, fair enough."
I looked at the cart — it was full of oranges.
Good. But did he really spend all the remaining money on this?
Then I noticed something odd… his black suit looked bulky.
"Wait… what's under your suit?"
"N-nothing… nothing at all."
"Then where's the rest of the money?"
"I spent it on the cart."
"Impossible! Even this cart doesn't cost that much!"
"Ughhh, you're so annoying…"
Haizen finally opened his jacket — and underneath was a pile of… bananas.
And… another sword? A yellow sword.
"Wait, why did you buy this many bananas? And what's with the sword? I could've made you one and painted it yellow! Also, since when is there even a weapons market here!?"
He pointed behind the apartment building — there was a small weapon stall, selling what looked like scrap metal.
"I bought it from there."
This idiot… why is he always drawn to dumb things?
And all those bananas—
"What's with all the bananas? I didn't know you liked them that much."
"I'm not obsessed with bananas."
"I didn't say you were… but it kinda looks that way. Anyway, since you bought so many, give me some — I'm not letting you eat them all."
We ate some bananas.
Even Number Five, despite everything he'd gone through, didn't complain about eating a few.
After that, I started feeling a bit guilty toward the prince.
…Or maybe not. I'm not really sure.
Only one small thing was left to do — make explosive oranges.
Of course, I can't literally make the oranges explosive, so the plan was to carefully peel some and put bombs inside the rinds.
Even if someone got suspicious, it would be too late once they noticed.
"Alright, Haizen, peel some oranges."
"What? You want to eat oranges too?"
"No, idiot. I'm going to put explosives inside the peels."
"Explosives? Like the ones you hit that mummy with earlier?"
"Something like that, but orange-sized. Do you have a knife?"
"No."
Great. Even I didn't have one.
We'd spent the entire budget on stupid stuff.
"Haizen, go buy a knife."
"Okay, give me the money."
We'd already spent what was left of the prince's money, so I gave him some of my own coins.
He came back a few minutes later with a knife, peeled the oranges with surprising precision, and we wrapped the prepared explosives inside the peels.
I'd already made a decent batch before we arrived in the capital, so this went smoothly.
They didn't look suspicious at all.
Then, Number Five and I climbed into the cart — but—
"Wait, you idiot!"
Haizen sounded annoyed.
"What now?"
"You want me to carry you down from the roof? No way. You carry the mummy, and I'll carry the cart. Once we're down, you two can climb in."
"Fine, whatever."
Haizen carried the cart while I carried Number Five — who was heavy.
He even warned me:
"Be careful, if you drop me, you'll ruin what's left of me."
We went down the corridor stairs.
It was exhausting, and Haizen got impatient.
"Come on, man, move faster."
"He's heavy, okay?! It's not like I've got your physical strength."
Once we reached the ground, there was nothing left but to execute the plan.
Then a thought hit me.
"Hey Haizen, how did you even buy the cart and the oranges?"
"The seller was scared of me. Thought I was a thief. But I paid him anyway."
…Of course. Nothing ever goes normally.
We stuffed Number Five into the cart, then I climbed in too.
Haizen covered us with oranges, put the prince's necklace around his neck, and headed to the gang's base.
As he walked through the market, I heard a girl's voice asking to buy oranges.
I couldn't see her face, but her voice sounded very familiar.
"How much for these oranges, merchant?"
This is bad.
I thought Haizen's scary look would keep people away — but if she buys the oranges, we'll be exposed!
Please, Haizen, come up with something smart—
"Actually, each orange costs two gold coins."
Nice move, Haizen. No way she'll buy at that price.
"Perfect! I'll take five then."
What?! Who buys overpriced oranges like that?!
Come on, Haizen, say something!
"Wait, you fool, Why are you buying five? Don't you see that's expensive!"
"Fine, Here you go. Ten gold coins, now give me the oranges."
Wow… this girl is terrible with money.
I felt the cart shake — Haizen must be handing her the oranges.
"Hey, what's that?"
What? Did she notice something?
The cart was still shaking. Did she see something?
"Nothing. Take your oranges and forget what you saw."
Haizen, you moron, you almost blew our cover!
The cart started moving again — he must've left.
I peeked outside a little…
The girl was talking to herself.
She didn't even notice Haizen had gone.
I ducked back down quickly — her face looked exactly like that girl whose box I smashed at that exhibition.
After that, no one else came to buy oranges.
A few minutes later, the market noise faded, and Haizen said:
"We're here."
At that point, I aimed my gun at Number Five's head — it was his cue to speak when the guards talked to Haizen.
Then I heard the guards' voices.
"Look, it's Number Five."
"He looks kinda weird. Why is there a black cloth over his head? Doesn't he have a hood with his suit? That cloth looks separate."
They were starting to get suspicious.
The cart stopped moving.
"Hello, Number Five. What've you got there?"
Now it was Number Five's turn.
I pointed the gun at him — he understood and spoke in Haizen's place.
"What the boss requested."
No idea if they bought it or not.
I felt a kick against the cart — Haizen's signal.
That meant he was holding two "special" oranges, and Number Five needed to tell them to eat them.
I aimed the gun again; he understood.
"Would you two like some oranges?"
The guards happily accepted.
"Oh, thank you, Number Five. We don't know what you brought, but thanks for the oranges."
And then came the system's voice:
[My turn, then. Alright—detonation.]
The two "oranges" exploded, shaking the whole area.
The operation was a success — infiltration complete.
Now came the hard part: getting the prince out of the gang's den.