/
Arthur discreetly directed Donna and McBore via a communication device, saying,
“Donna, stay ready. When I give the signal, go to the West Central Road Intersection and investigate the Million General Store. It’s possible it’s a rebel base – we might be able to utilize it in the future.”
[Okay]
“McBore, you send a Golem this way. A bird… No, a rat. It would be less noticeable. Keep checking the location and tell us. Then, we’ll follow two steps back.”
[All right]
It didn’t seem like a bad order.
On the contrary, there was a high risk of being caught if four people chased after him. Rather, it would be better to divide roles.
‘Above all, Donna and McBore are not good at close combat.’
Oliver and Arthur stood by unnoticed near the grocery store.
Suddenly, there was a call from the communications device. It belonged to Donna and McBore, respectively.
[Leader, I’m near you]
[Rat Golem is right behind you. Give me a signal when the target comes out of the door. I’ll go after.]
Arthur said yes.
After a while, a man came out of the grocery store with a basket of groceries. He was an ordinary man with special traits except for his height.
“It’s him,” Oliver said
“McBore. Follow the guy who just left.” Arthur instructed
Upon hearing Arthur’s orders, McBore hesitated and asked,
[Are you sure that’s the person?]
“Yes. Why?”
[I can’t sense any mana from him, he seems like an average person.]
Arthur looked at Oliver with a questioning gaze, but Oliver remained calm and composed, as if there was nothing to be concerned about.
“I don’t know if he’s a rebel or not,” Oliver said, “but his mana level is as high as most wizards. He’s keeping it under control, but I can see it.”
“…….”
Arthur and McBore were left speechless by Oliver’s revelation.
After a moment of thought, Arthur spoke up,
“I’ll take responsibility for this. Go after him.”
[All right]
As they spoke, the man with the basket of groceries continued to walk down the road, and a small mouse followed close behind him.
This mouse was actually a golem controlled by McBore, with a fur-like exterior that blended in perfectly with the real mice, making it difficult to distinguish unless examined closely.
It was a well-crafted piece of work.
“We’ll wait a minute or two before chasing him. That way, our chances of getting caught will be greatly reduced,” Arthur said.
“Sounds good,” Oliver replied.
Arthur took a minute or two to smoke his cigarette.
Oliver paid it no mind.
“How did you know?” Arthur asked.
“What do you mean?” Oliver responded.
“I mean, I know you are a Rare-case and can see mana, but can you see hidden mana as well? I know it’s not an easy thing to do,” Arthur said.
“Um, I’ve met someone who’s much better at hiding it than that man,” Oliver said
“Ho, really? Who’s tha…”
[- Chi-jik! Leader! Follow now. He walked straight along the main road and turned right at the crossroads. It’s a slum area.]
A sudden interruption of conversation, but work came first, so Arthur and Oliver moved right away.
TAK TAK TAK.
Oliver asked Arthur.
“If it’s a slum, maybe they’re hiding there?”
“That’s the standard way, but the back alleys are full of locals, so I should have gotten something the last time I visited. It’s strange.”
Oliver and Arthur turned right and entered the alley.
Not as much as Landa, but the city’s slums also had a bleak and dangerous atmosphere.
Garbage was scattered throughout the streets, and it was a common sight to see broken planks of wood or trash being set ablaze in large barrels, as if they were unable to manage the amount.
“If a fire breaks out at this rate, it’ll be quite a sight.”
“That would be a big deal.”
“Not necessarily. After the fire, you can clear it all out and construct a new one. Developers will jump at the opportunity.”
The communication device beeped again.
[Going straight. He got out of the third alley Now. . . Huh? Now…Cruk, crak, cruk, crack, crack!…. Ah. Ah. I just lost communication with Golem. I think he got it.]
“Fu*k!”
Arthur was livid and took off running immediately.
Oliver also ran after him, but it was challenging for him to keep pace with Arthur due to his physical limitations.
Despite his enormous size, Arthur was surprisingly fast, disproportionate to his bulk.
Only after wearing a black suit, Oliver was able to roughly match the speed.
“Can we rush after him like this?”
“It’s meaningless to be careful since he already knows there’s someone chasing him anyway. We have to find traces somehow.”
Halt!
Arthur turned a corner and grabbed the wall of the alleyway.
It was a deserted area, fittingly referred to as a back alley.
The only things in sight were a few drums burning with garbage and the remains of the rat golem that had been smashed on the way.
There was nothing else to be seen – no people, no signs of passing, no holes from the side road.
“Fu*k. Did he get over the wall?”
Arthur was on high alert and the communication device rang again at that moment.
[Boss, I spoke with the owner of the grocery store. He tried to conceal it, but he has a distinct accent from the Northlands. It could be a coincidence, but it’s possible he’s a collaborator with the rebels.]
“Then we’ll have to go back and request his cooperation.”
Arthur, when he had found another target, abandoned his earlier relaxed attitude and clenched his teeth like a hungry dog.
It reminded Oliver of a dog watching over children in the mine.
Oliver asked, noticing Arthur’s unusual emotions.
“How can you tell if he’s a collaborator or not?”
“The rebel bought something from a store run by a Northlander. That’s enough proof. He’s a collaborator.”
“Would he talk if we asked him?”
“No, but it doesn’t matter. We can make him talk.”
“Make him talk? How?”
“If we pull out the teeth with iron tongs, most of them usually cooperate. Do you know how many teeth a person has?”
“Isn’t it 28?”
“That’s correct. I haven’t seen anyone who can endure until half of them are pulled out.”
“From the way you speak, you must be from the kingdom army.”
A third voice suddenly interrupted them. However, by the time they reacted, it was too late.
Someone had jumped out with a sword from the flames of the drum that was burning the trash pile and stabbed Arthur.
BANG
“…Ugh!”
Arthur was pushed against the wall in an instant.
If his reaction had been a little slower, he couldn’t have stopped it with his golem hand and his body would have been penetrated.
This man in front of them was not normal.
Arthur raised his other hand and tried to punch him.
The man’s steel sword heated up red and he slashed it from left to right, emitting high-powered energy.
At that moment, Arthur’s new Golem prosthetic arm broke and a piece of stone flew helplessly to one side.
But that was just on the surface.
“Hmph!”
Arthur snorted and focused his energy on the broken prosthetic arm.
Mana was activated between the fragments of the broken and scattered Golem prosthetic limbs, connecting them together and the fragments stopped in mid-air.
Not only did it stop in the air, but the Golem prosthetic arm merged back together and attacked the enemy.
BANG! BANG!
The enemy stepped back quickly to avoid the Golem prosthetic arm, which collided with the ground with a loud noise.
Arthur shouted, “Dave!” and Oliver quickly jumped towards the enemy, wielding his quarterstaff woven in a black suit.
Despite attacking at the right timing, the enemy skillfully changed his posture and defended against Oliver’s attack.
Chaeng—!!
The man fought skillfully and was not pushed back by the output of Oliver’s black suit, despite its strength.
He seemed to have an exceptional physical ability, and the suit around Oliver’s quarterstaff caught fire from the man’s red-hot blade.
It seemed to be a disadvantage to fight for a long time in close combat.
“Gotcha!”
Arthur threw his Golem prosthetic arm at the man, who skilfully knocked down Oliver’s quarterstaff, then Arthur’s fist, and then fired back.
He seemed very good at fighting.
Soon, a red blade rushed toward Arthur’s head, but just in time, Oliver fired a bullet of hatred.
The man recovered the blade facing Arthur’s head, blocked it, and stepped back.
Thinking he would be at a disadvantage if it continued like this, the man spoke.
“As expected, it’s uncomfortable to fight while controlling firepower. But I can’t just let you go….. It can’t be helped….”
The man blurted out his words and focused his mana on the red-hot blade.
The complicated flow of mana passed through Oliver’s eyes, and at the same time, the fire on the drums all over the alley gathered on the blade and condensed.
The ferocious red light, which seemed to burn everything in the world, was reminiscent of molten iron, and there was no warmth unique to the fire, only the ferocity was felt.
He seemed to be trying to finish Oliver and Arthur at once with high-powered fire magic.
‘how many layers of Black suit could stop……. Uh’
Oliver raised his hand and spoke, just as the enemy man tried to blow up the fire that he gathered.
“Wait a minute. Do you have a colleague nearby?”
Arthur, who was next to him, frowned at the sudden question, and the enemy man also paused.
He could have just ignored it and attacked, but he noticed something strange in Oliver’s attitude, stopped the attack, and answered.
“…no.”
“If it’s not from our side or your side, it must be a War Wizard.”
“What?”
“There’s a wizard fast approaching this way right now. I think you are from the Kell Liberation Army, and we’re Solvers from Landa. All of us will be in a bad spot if someone from the kingdom side comes here. For now, why don’t we stop fighting and meet again later and talk?”
It felt like a sudden load of crazy nonsense.
However, the enemy man spread his mana and checked his surroundings, and soon opened his mouth.
“…Good.”
“What happened?”
Donna and McBore, who returned to the accommodation after being summoned by Arthur, opened the door and asked,
Arthur answered, temporarily repairing the Golem prosthetic arm.
“I’m confused, too. Calm down and close the door and sit down. This guy will tell you.”
Donna and McBore looked at Oliver at Arthur’s words and sat down in a suitable place nearby.
Donna folded her arms and opened her mouth.
“All right, so can you explain now? I’m sure you were chasing the enemy a while ago. But why did you suddenly ask us to gather here? How the hell did you get here before us? Considering time and distance, it should have been longer than us.”
Oliver showed her two sheets of paper in reply. A small portal formed when Oliver activated magic on the paper with a magic circle on it.
“!! Space magic…?”
“I can’t believe it….”
Donna and McBore spoke with shock and admiration.
It seemed to indirectly tell the level of Spatial school magic.
“Just in case, I installed papers in the accommodation here according to the number of people, and I activated it and ran away here.”
“Run away? Are you saying the enemy was that strong?”
Arthur replied this time.
“It’s true that the enemy we chased and fought was strong, but we didn’t run away because of that. It’s a little complicated… Dave?”
Oliver took over the baton and answered.
“During the fight, another wizard approached, so we stopped the fight and broke up.”
“It seemed like a Wizard from the Kingdom side.”
“Is it a War wizard?”
“Maybe, it’s groundless, but if it’s neither our side nor the Kell rebels, the only other option left is from the Kingdom side.”
McBore nodded, as if saying it was plausible logic.
“It’s not a very ridiculous story. Just like we have ears, they have ears over there. It’s not that strange to turn the search personnel this way.”
“And you missed what was right in front of you?!”
Arthur calmed down Donna, who was angry.
“Calm down, missy….. Surprisingly, this guy made an appointment.”
“Leader, are you kidding?”
“I feel the same way, but I’m not kidding. I don’t know how he did, but he convinced the enemy to stop fighting and even made an appointment. Tonight at nine o’clock, at the Millian General Store on West Central Road…..”
Arthur looked at Oliver with an expression of bewilderment.
The same was true of others. They stared at Oliver in bewilderment, as if they were looking at a goblin who performed magic.
Oliver looked at them and replied.
“I thought it would be better for them, too.”
“Uh. …it’s all over the place. What’s the reason for him to keep his promise?”
“His emotions were sincere when he made the promise, and above all, he seemed to care about his colleague, the owner of the grocery store, so I think he will come out.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Arthur, Donna, and McBore were all unable to say anything, shining in agreement. They seemed to have accepted the situation.
And, Oliver said at the end.
“If he breaks the promise, can’t we just persuade the owner of the grocery store? By pulling his teeth.”