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‘How…, how did Akum get here…?’
I fumbled over my memory about what happened before coming to the strawberry field.
I quickly realized that I didn’t close the door of the barn properly in a hurry.
“Sihyeon, who is this guy? He seems to have come here following you.”
“Right. Are you raising him, brother?”
Beast-people showed interest when they saw the baby Yakum for the first time.
Apparently, they did not seem to notice that the identity of the Akum was Yakum.
I introduced Yakum while holding him in my arms.
Pow wo woooo.
When Akum found out that he was being introduced, he made a cute cry.
Not only Reville and Greg but also other Beastmen looked at the baby Yakum curiously.
I quickly changed the subject before more attention was poured to Akum.
“I’ll be right back after taking Akum home. We’re in a hurry now.”
When I mentioned Miru’s story, Beastmen became aware of the urgent situation and nodded.
“Please wait a moment. Akum, let’s go back to the farm.”
I was about to go back to the Demon farm in a hurry, but the Akum began to struggle in my arms.
“Oh, Whaa. What’s wrong with you Akum?”
Pooo! Poooo!
“No. I have something important to do right now, so I don’t have time to play with you.”
Poooo Woooo!
While I was confused by the sudden action of Akum, Gyuri flew to my side and talked to him.
“I think Akum wants to help, too.”
“You want to help? How can you…?
“You’re looking for the owner of the object Sihyeon is holding, right popi ! I think Akum found something out, popi ?”
Hearing Gyuri’s words I opened my palm.
On my palm was the headdress of Miru that had been handed down to me by Reville.
Poo-woo. Poo-woo.
Sniff, sniff!
Akum, who was in his arms, stuck his head out above the palm and began to smell it.
After a while, Akum glistened as if he had found something, slipped out of my arms, and ran somewhere.
“Huh? Akum?”
I rushed after him.
The baby Yakum left the strawberry field and headed towards the grass field.
With a small body, he managed to move forward through the long grass.
Poooo wooo woooo
I heard the cry of Akum, who seemed to have found something.
Arriving through the grass, a deserted wagon could be found.
The other group, who arrived late, also looked surprised when they found the carriage.
Andras quickly guessed the intruders’ plans as he examined the carriage.
“I can’t believe they hid a carriage so close to the strawberry field. Maybe they were going to steal strawberries from the storage and move them to this carriage.”
Reville nodded and agreed with him.
“That’s right. And from the horseshoe marks, it’s clear that the guys who we couldn’t catch in the village abandoned the wagon and ran away on the horses.”
The wagon hidden in the grass was definitely the intruders’.
People’s eyes were naturally drawn to Akum, who found the wagon.
“Oh! That’s great, Popi!”
“He has got a lot of talent, brother.”
“He’s definitely great. We searched around the strawberry field, but we never expected a carriage like this.”
Poo woow
Akum understood people’s compliments and showed a confident expression.
And he looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
He looked like he wanted a compliment from me.
I smiled and patted Akum on the head.
“Yes, good job, Akum.”
Poo woo wooooo.
Akum made a pleasant cry with a satisfied expression on his face at my compliment.
Come to think of it, I got help from him when I escaped from the Poison Ant cave.
Maybe he’s also necessary to save Miru.
No more clues were found around the carriage.
We headed to the Elden Village to plan what we should do.
“Well, I don’t know anything. I just did what Derick told me to do.”
“We were told to pretend we didn’t see those guys…”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I happened to be there on a night patrol!”
The vigilantes, who were deceived and betrayed by Derick, acted as if they were victims.
Outraged by their disgusting behavior, Reville almost charged onto them.
It was a terrifying moment where he would have really killed them if Lagos hadn’t stopped him.
We didn’t get any information from the vigilantes who were betrayed.
The situation was not much different on the captive lizardman side either.
“I thought all I had to do was rob the safe at the house he showed us. Kidnapping? That wasn’t part of the plan in the first place!”
Rather, the lizardman proudly threatened us.
“Are you guys doing this because you don’t know what Red molars are like? If you make our boss angry, this little village will quickly turn into ruins.”
It was not easy for everyone to hold back their anger seeing the brazen attitude of the lizardman.
Irritated, Greg raised his voice.
” Damn it! Shouldn’t we be torturing this rotten b*stard?”
“Torture won’t give us any useful information. And now is not the time to waste on this useless fellow.”
“Hmph!”
Andras sorted things out as coolly as he could.
As he said, every second matters at this moment.
“Why don’t we use him as a hostage exchange?”
Reville replied with a wry smile to my question.
“There’s no such thing as camaraderie among criminals. They’d rather take the strawberries as it says in the letter than get their colleague back.”
“Hmm….”
“We’ve got to move first. That way, they won’t do anything dangerous to Miru thinking she’s worth it.”
The ‘Red molars’ who carried out the kidnapping had nothing to lose.
“If they think they won’t get what they want, there will be no guarantee to the safety of Miru, who is being held as a hostage.”
Everyone frowned at the frustrating situation.
While the silence continued without talking about proper measures, Reville spoke with a heavy voice.
“I know those scumbags well. So I’ll smoke them out.”
“What does that mean Reville?”
Reville explained to us step by step the plan he had in mind.
All responded positively to the simple, but a quite plausible plan.
But…
“I think it’ll be too dangerous for the person who will be taking on the bait role.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take the role.”
“Reville. Will that be alright?”
Reville answered my worried question in a very calm manner.
“Sihyeon, you’ve already decided to give up strawberries. That alone makes us indebted to you, that we can’t pay off easily. So leave the danger to me.”
His eyes were filled with firm determination.
Reville lastly glanced at his best friend, Lagos.
“You won’t stop me from going, will you?”
“You’ll go even if I stop you…right?”
“Hahahah! You know me well.”
Reville burst into a cheerful laugh, and Lagos smiled bitterly at the sight.
“If we don’t have a better option, let’s go as I planned.”
“There will be a little risk, but I think it’s the best way to do it right now.”
Starting with Andras, Alfred and the rest of the Beastmen agreed.
Finally, everyone’s eyes were on me.
I also made up my mind and nodded.
“Okay, let’s do it that way.”
The gate of the city Kaldinium was always bustling with people trying to get in and out.
As it was the largest city in the vicinity, it was the place where merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, etc., came and went.
An ordinary carriage slowly approached the gate of  Kaldinium.
The guard, who saw the carriage full of luggage, approached the carriage.
After confirming that the driver of the carriage was a Beastman, the guard shouted in a high-pitched voice.
“Hey, you! Unless you’re a merchant recognized by the lord, all the wagons that pass through the gate will be inspected. Everybody out of the carriage! NOW”
Greg and Heron, who were driving the carriage, looked slightly frightened at the guard’s manner.
“We…. We’re not trying to pass through the gate.”
“What? Then why did you come here? Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not… Have you tried strawberries?”
“What?”
As soon as the guard’s irritation was about to soar to the top of his head, Heron took fresh strawberries out of the wagon’s luggage compartment and held them out to the guard.
“Try it, Sir.”
At the sight of the bright red strawberry on Heron’s hand, the annoyance on the guard’s face disappeared in an instant.
The guard asked back with a half-concerned look because he had heard of the existence of strawberries, but had never actually seen them.
“Hmm? Is this… strawberry?”
“Yes! It’s a strawberry that we, Elden villagers, harvested ourselves. It’s really good.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard of strawberries growing in a Beast-people village.”
The guard couldn’t take his eyes off the strawberry and hesitated.
But he couldn’t resist the temptation and eventually grabbed the strawberry.
Yum yum…
“How is it, Sir? Do you like it?”
“Oh! It’s really good. I’ve never seen a fruit that tastes like this?!”
The guard who tasted the strawberry for the first time truly admired it.
Many people’s eyes in front of the gate turned to the carriage.
“What’s going on?”
“Sir! Strawberries are really good.”
“What strawberry?”
The guard captain at the castle gate frowned at the sudden sound of his subordinate.
“You’re here, too Sir. Would you like to try some strawberries?”
The guard captain, who looked at the strawberries, looked happy after tasting them himself.
Whisper
“What are the guards eating over there?”
“You don’t know that? It’s the strawberry that the aristocrats are going crazy about. These days, I heard that the Demon Lord also eats it after meals.”
“Oh, really? I wish I could taste it at least once…”
Everyone around the carriage looked at the carriage full of strawberries.
Then, a shocking word came out of Heron’s mouth in the driver’s seat.
“Anyone who wants to eat strawberries? Come this way if you want to eat. I can’t give you much, but I’ll let you taste it.”
People’s buzz grew when they heard those words.
In an unbelievable situation, all of them couldn’t move ahead.
In that situation, a middle-aged adventurer, who was waiting to enter the city, approached the carriage.
He spoke to Heron in a rather polite tone.
“I’m an adventurer from afar. Can I have a taste of that strawberry, too?”
“Sure. Here you go, Sir.”
Heron smiled happily and handed him the strawberry.
“Thank you, then…”
The middle-aged adventurer carefully bit the strawberry.
As soon as he ate the strawberry, the surrounding area became quiet enough to hear people’s breathing.
A satisfactory smile hung around the mouth of the adventurer who slowly savored the taste of strawberry.
“It’s… It’s the best fruit I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Hahaha, thank you, Sir.”
“Can I get one more?”
“I was originally going to give you one. I don’t think there’s anyone who wants…so….”
“No, wait! Give me one!”
“Me too! Me too!”
As if the transparent curtain had disappeared, everyone in front of the gate flocked around the carriage.
Not only the people who tried to enter the city but even the people inside the gate began to rush out after hearing the news of strawberries.
“Argh! Wait! Stop!”
Guards near the carriage were quickly caught in the crowd.
The guards who guarded the gate suddenly guarded the strawberry wagon.
Heron and Greg kindly handed out strawberries one by one to the crowd.
“Oh, don’t push!”
“Are you really handing out strawberries here?”
“Hey! Don’t cut in line!”
More and more people gathered and a Rat Beastman escaped from the chaotic basket.
“I almost dropped it on the ground. Hehehe! This is the strawberry from the rumors. Let me taste it.”
As soon as he put the strawberry in his mouth, the sweet and sour juices spread out.
When he was feeling happy while tasting the strawberry, Someone secretly approached the Rat Beastman from behind, and he felt a chilling sensation behind his back.
The Ratman instinctively sensed the threat and stopped moving.
“Long time no see, Buckteeth!”
“Who… who?”
“Have you forgotten my voice already?”
“… What?! Brother Reville?”
“Don’t call me brother. It’s been a long time since I washed my hands. I bet you’re still working in the Red molars, aren’t you? Go and tell that ugly b*stard. One hour! Bring the kidnapped girl to us in an hour, or we’ll give away all the strawberries in the carriage for free.”
“Hiii, what?!”
“I said an hour. Get out of here!”
Puck!
As soon as Reville finished talking, he kicked him hard in the butt.
The Ratman waddled in shock and pain and managed to get into position.
He turned his head around and stared at Reville, but quickly avoided looking at him.
‘Damn it! If I got thrown out of the organization, I’d be stuck in the countryside… …I’d better go tell the boss quickly.’
The Ratman grabbed his tingling butt and jumped into the gate.
Watching the scene, Reville quietly signaled somewhere.
Then the three people who were mixed in the crowd began to follow the Rat Beastman.
Three people in robes.
Normally, it would not have been easy to enter the city gate due to suspicious clothes, but the guards were unable to properly inspect due to the crowds gathered because of strawberries.
Reville smiled when he saw the back of the three men safely passing through the gates.
“Sihyeon, please save Miru.”