Chapter 155
My vision returned to normal after resting for two minutes . But it felt much longer… Still, Presence Detection hadn’t caught anything . Not the bandits or Eve or Daniela . But I knew in which direction Daniela had gone . It was time to go after her .
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I found a trail of blood . Of course, it was Eve’s . I followed the still wet trail until I could hear the sounds of fighting up ahead . I ran faster then, it was towards the river, or what was the center of the town . As I advance, I detect more and more figures through Presence Detection . I didn’t know if they were bandits or citizens, but I decided to anticipate the worst and be prepared .
“Ah, you!”
“Huh…!”
A guard jumped out from the shadows . I raised my sword to cut down the bandit .
“Wait-wait-wait!”
“What?”
“It’s me! You know, you left us those boxes!”
“…Ah . ”
I’ve seen him before . The nice old man who had blocked our exit behind the guard house . He had a sword on his belt now, but he did not unsheath it . Did that mean he had no intention of fighting?
“What are you doing?”
“You’re trying to kill Eve, aren’t ya? I wish to join . ”
“Oh? But aren’t you bandits as well?”
“No-no . I’m really from the other side of town . We’re enemies, you see . And we’ve been planning on taking them down for a while . ”
Huh . It seemed that Eve’s identity wasn’t exactly a huge secret here . Apparently, they just hadn’t been able to get evidence, but it was an open secret . But Eve was rather cautious, and it had been hard to catch her off guard .
“The other two that were with me . They’re also spies . ”
“And yet, who was it that wouldn’t let us go and forced us to meet Eve?”
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“We had no choice then . But I knew there must be something to it, and so we were watching you . ”
“I see…”
Had they stuck out their necks to defend us, people would have become suspicious . So perhaps they really did have no choice .
“In any case, there really isn’t anything left to do . ”
“Really? Hmm…well, take this then . ”
So saying, the old guard pulled out a few bottles from a pocket . All of them were filled with a bright liquid…
“Recovery potions . The green one is for strength, the blue is for magic and the yellow one is to cure tiredness . ”
“Are you sure? Those look expensive . ”
“Aye, these are the best potions we can get . It’ll heal most wounds and replenish your magic . ”
“But these are really expensive! Are you sure? I won’t give them back…”
“That’s fine . They won’t be of much use to me now . ”
In that case, I would accept them . I did happen to be very tired…so the yellow potion would do just nicely . I removed the cork and drank it .
“…Ahhhhh . Yeah, that seems to work…”
“That is good . Well, I’ll be hiding and staying out of your way then . Be careful . ”
“You too . And thanks for the potions . ”
“Don’t mention it . Goodbye!”
The old man waved a hand and then ran away . He had good legs and managed to hide in the shadow of a building very quickly .
That was an unexpected encounter… But now I was in peak condition . This really was an interesting place… And I learned a thing or two . We just needed to get to the other side of the town . As they were enemies of Eve, they had no reason to be antagonistic towards us . Especially if that old man spoke in our favor . I was now feeling quite enthusiastic .
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“Alright, let’s go . ”
My tiredness had blown away and my feet felt lighter . The green and silver wind would carry me, like it always did, to Daniela .
“Well, I’m still the one who is actually running . ”
It was my will that drove me . I ran and achieved victory with these very hands . And I would do so again . Yes, without letting my guard down . I wouldn’t mess up again like I did a moment ago . I would put an end to Eve as quickly as possible . And I meant to do it through an ambush .
I flew through the city in a blur of green and silver wind . As I cut my way passed bandits who swung their weapons, I could occasionally see guards who were giving me a thumbs up . They must be here undercover as well . And so I started to attack with my gauntlet, so as I wouldn’t accidentally kill any of them . The pain might make them want to die, but they wouldn’t . I would just have to apologize later…
“Hey, hey!”
Just as I had thrown my thirtieth bandit, a guard called me from the shadows . He was tall…the strong-looking guard!
“Ah, I see you are well . ”
“Judging by your expression, you must have met one of us? Well, that is good . Eve and your partner are fighting up ahead . Thanks to you, Eve is thoroughly wounded, however, I can’t shake off the feeling that she has a trump card somewhere . ”
“Then I have to go to Daniela at once!”
“Be careful! Ah, that’s right . Take this with you!”
“Huh…?”
He grabbed my hand and put something in it . I stared . It was a ring .
“Um, uh…the thing is, I’m already seeing someone…I can’t go off marrying other people . ”
“Are…are you stupid? It is a magic tool that blocks Presence Detection . It’s not the most precise, but I thought it might be useful!”
Oh…that’s great! I put the silver ring on my index finger . It reminded me of something . I think I bought something like this once in Harajuku . For one 1,000 yen .
“Thank you, I appreciate it!”
“Aye, see you later!”
We bumped our fists together . He grinned at me before disappearing behind a building . And so did his presence . Hmm . Was this the power of the magic tool? As I wondered this, the old man poked his head out again and gave me a thumbs up . Yes, it allowed you to stay hidden . He disappeared for good after that .
“Magic tools are great, as you only have to fill them with magic to use them…”
A way to stay hidden . A Presence Detection block skill . Though, apparently not that good . If only using this would help me gain a new skill . Well, life would never be that easy . But for now, I relied on what cover it offered as I ran in the direction the old man had pointed .
I noticed more and more destroyed buildings . If this was the aftermath of Daniela and Eve’s fight, that meant that Eve still had a lot left in her in spite of the wounds . I felt a cold sweat drip down my back . It made me anxious about Daniela .
Daniela had lived for many years, but she had avoided combat as much as possible . On the other hand, Eve was an elf who had done little but fight during her many years of life . Being a bandit was its own type of race . A race that lived by the killing of others . Fighting was something they did daily .
Daniela had started to fight a lot more recently, and was happy to see that her level was increasing . But I still doubted that she was close to Eve . Still, as someone who believed in her wholeheartedly, I could not doubt that she would win .
“I should try blocking my presence now…”
There would be no Legs of the Forest Wolf from here on . I wanted to approach her without her noticing . I would finish this fight with an ambush .
The sound of an explosion echoed . Dust and bricks flew up into the air . And there was Daniela and Eve!
I ran . Thanks to the presence block, I passed by some bandits without being noticed . I could have taken them down easily from behind, but there was no time . I had to reach Daniela as soon as possible .
I ran . A mountain of bricks lay in front of me, and I used Legs of the Forest Wolf for just one second in order to jump over it . I jumped much like a certain character I had seen on TV a long time ago, but I messed up the landing and rolled . Practice . I just needed practice .
I ran . A pillar of fire lay ahead . Just after that rubble . I pulled out the SchwarzTempest .
“AHHHHHH!!!”
Eve’s voice rang . I jumped over the rubble and inspected the battlefield . All of the buildings here had been leveled . There were a few spots on the ground that were burning from Eve’s fire .
“Ah…”
There she was, Daniela . Eve’s flames shot out towards her . Daniela dodged it . They were right in the middle of this barren area .
I could see that Eve’s face was twisted monstrously . I didn’t know why, but I became terribly worried .
‘I can’t shake off the feeling that she has a trump card somewhere . ’
That’s what the old man had said .
Her face wasn’t like that because she was angry that her attack had missed .
It was because she knew she had won when Daniela moved to that position .
“DANIELAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
I shouted and ran . Something was about to happen . Something bad .
“DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
Something was slammed into the ground as Eve screamed . Then a magic circle appeared at Daniela’s feet . I had never seen anything like it before . It floated in the air and shone with a jade light . What appeared next was a giant jaw . Its red tongue and rows of fangs tore into Daniela’s left arm . Then the rest of it climbed out of the circle . It was huge and something I had never seen before . But I knew what it was .
It was a dragon .