Chapter 25: Swordsman**

**Chapter 25: Swordsman**

Fujino picked up his wooden sword, put on his vision-enhancing glasses, and opened the car door, following the man who had taken away Ogawa Yuta.

Before arriving here, he had made ample preparations for this mission.

Besides the vision-enhancing glasses, he held strength-enhancing and perception-enhancing cards in his left and right hands respectively.

The park was filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.

It was twilight, and there were no people around; the surroundings were silent, making it an ideal place for murder.

"Wow! Thank you, uncle!"

Next to a bench in the park's open space, Yuta was crouched on the ground, excitedly unwrapping his gift.

"No need to thank me..."

The man named Ogino said strangely.

Then he took off the trench coat he was wearing, pulled out a fruit knife from his pocket, and walked towards Yuta with a look of resentment and ferocity in his eyes.

"Tomoya, you must be very lonely over there... Don't worry, I'll send this little one to accompany you..."

He raised the fruit knife slowly.

"Stop right there!"

Suddenly, a figure blocked his way.

The person held a wooden sword and wore black-framed glasses, with a sharp look in his eyes.

But judging by his thin frame, he didn't seem to pose much of a threat.

"Who are you?"

Ogino stared fiercely at Fujino and shouted, "Get out of my way!"

Fujino raised his wooden sword, pointing the wooden blade at Ogino's face, and said solemnly, "Are you really going to kill this innocent child?"

"I advise you not to meddle!"

Ogino threw the trench coat aside, "Or I'll kill you too!"

Then he raised the fruit knife high and charged straight at Fujino.

"If I'm not mistaken, you want to kill him to make his father pay in blood, right?"

[Detective time activated, countdown: 0-0-59]

The system's prompt sounded suddenly.

"What?!"

Ogino was stunned, stopping in his tracks and looking at Fujino in surprise.

"Two years ago, your son Ogino Tomoya died from untreated appendicitis. Unable to accept the grief of losing your child, you transferred all your resentment onto Dr. Ogawa."

Fujino's lips curved into a slight smile as he deduced, "Since then, you've been sending the insurance money from Tomoya's death and his toys to Dr. Ogawa's son, Yuta... So that two years later, you could personally take Yuta's life, making Dr. Ogawa experience the pain of losing a child when his son turns five!"

"How do you know this?"

Ogino asked in astonishment, then roared angrily, "Who are you?!"

"I'm Fujino, a detective!"

With that, Fujino activated the system enhancements, crushing the perception and strength enhancement cards in his hands.

[Detective enhancement 100% activated; countdown: 0-1-59]

[Strength amplification 100% activated; countdown: 0-0-59]

[Perception amplification 100% activated; countdown: 0-0-59]

"I don't care if you're a detective or a dog, since you dared to interrupt me, go die!"

Roaring, Ogino charged forward again, raising the fruit knife high and thrusting it towards Fujino's chest.

"Hopeless."

Fujino sneered, his legs moved into a sword-flying stance, and as he saw the approaching knife, he remained calm.

With the double enhancement of the system and the glasses, Ogino's movements were clearly visible to Fujino.

In his eyes, the actions turned into shadows, gradually forming a trajectory.

That was his prediction of Ogino's movements.

He sidestepped slightly, and Ogino's attack missed.

Then, with a small motion, Fujino raised his wooden sword and struck Ogino's wrist's weakest point.

"Ah!"

Ogino clutched his wrist and screamed in pain.

Fujino didn't relax; he spun around, and using the inertia, his wooden sword swung like a meteor hammer, hitting Ogino's lower back.

Bang!

Ogino instinctively fell in the direction of the sword swing, lying on the ground and howling in pain.

"Don't bully the nice uncle!"

At this moment, a childish voice came from not far away.

"Huh?"

Fujino looked over in surprise.

He saw Yuta standing with his hands on his hips, shouting at him.

"Kid, that uncle over there is the bad guy!"

"Didn't you see the knife in his hand?"

"Uncle gave me fun toys, how can he be bad!"

The child's eyes shone with pure light.

Fujino was momentarily speechless.

Goodness, now he's the bad guy...

"Tomoya..."

Seeing Yuta defending him, Ogino's eyes welled up with tears.

In a daze, he seemed to see his son who had died two years ago.

"Uncle! Why are you crying?"

Saying this, Yuta started to walk towards Ogino.

"Don't go over there, it's dangerous!"

Fujino quickly picked up Yuta, still pointing his wooden sword at Ogino.

"Bad brother bullying nice uncle, let me go!"

Yuta struggled and shouted loudly.

Fujino was speechless.

Why can't this kid tell right from wrong...

Do I really look like a bad guy?

"No!"

Ogino knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, "It's all my fault, I'm the bad guy..."

"Actually, I knew from the beginning that Tomoya didn't die because of the surgery..."

"But... I just..."

"You just couldn't accept this cruel reality."

Fujino kicked the fruit knife away, walking slowly to Ogino's side, "Reality is cruel, hard to accept..."

He patted Ogino's shoulder, "But that's no reason to make other innocent people feel this heart-wrenching pain."

As Ogino cried with his head in his hands, this commission was successfully resolved.

In the end, Dr. Ogawa didn't send Ogino, who had tried to kidnap his son, to prison.

Fujino naturally respected the client's decision.

After all, he was just a detective who worked for money.

As the sun set,

Fujino leaned against his Ford Taurus, having earned 650,000 yen from the commission.

He looked at his handsome face in the rearview mirror and murmured, "Do I really look like a bad guy?"

Shaking his head, he decided not to think too much.

Just then, a series of system prompts sounded in his ear:

[Mission completed, awarding host 50 detective reputation points. Current reputation: 150, 50 points to next level.]

[Swordsman level up: Intermediate]

[Congratulations, host has gained the skill: Sword Soldier]

"Swordsman level up?"

Fujino said in surprise at the system prompt.

(End of chapter)