Ch.230[Chapter 230] Beyond the Cut

The central plaza of the Market Area.

Sir Dominic, who had been wandering around looking for people from Feralant until just moments ago, seemed a bit tired and was resting on a bench with a good view of the fountain.

With his eyes closed, Sir Dominic was listening to the noise of the plaza and the haggling between merchants and customers when suddenly, as if startled by something, he opened his eyes with a jolt.

“…Huh?”

Sir Dominic hurriedly stood up and looked around.

“…So that’s how it is.”

Sir Dominic muttered something incomprehensible.

After pondering something for a moment, Sir Dominic took out his phone from his pocket to check the time.

Then he put the phone back and began running somewhere with a stern expression.

Of course, you all know Sir Dominic’s destination.

It was the scene of the crime where Sir Dominic would be falsely accused.

…

“As a Newbie, you should take this… oh.”

The man with the gun was about to take out some useful items for beginners from his pocket as usual, but what he pulled out was someone’s mummified head preserved in salt.

Muttering that he had forgotten he’d put it in his pocket while headhunting, the man scratched his head and turned to apologize to the Newbie.

The Newbie must have been shocked, that was certain.

“Hii, hiiik!”

The Newbie ran away without looking back, convulsing in fear.

The Newbie disappeared into an alley, and Sir Dominic realized that the necromancer was the victim at the center of the incident.

“I’m certain now.”

Sir Dominic folded his newspaper and moved on.

Sir Dominic was currently wearing a trench coat, which was clothing he had hastily purchased from a nearby skin shop for disguise.

Of course, at 1980 Gacha Stones, it wasn’t exactly a price for casual wear, but Sir Dominic didn’t mind.

Clearing his name was more important than Gacha Stones.

Sir Dominic entered the alley where the Newbie had disappeared.

The Newbie had already vanished somewhere, but Sir Dominic wasn’t looking for the Newbie.

Sir Dominic raised his newspaper again at the corner of the alley, frequently peeking out to look at the entrance of the alley.

If Sir Dominic was indeed being framed, it was obvious that someone else would enter that alley.

Sir Dominic raised his collar higher to hide his face and pretended to flip through the newspaper to avoid suspicion.

“Is it here?”

“Yeah. I’m telling you, he went in here.”

At that moment, two people entered the alley.

Sir Dominic peeked out and tried to identify them with a sidelong glance, but the backlight from the dark alley made it impossible to see them clearly.

Instead, Sir Dominic managed to make out their silhouettes—one was a man with a gun, and the other was a knight with three feathers in his hair.

As soon as Sir Dominic saw them, he realized they were the culprits behind this incident.

“I’ve set up tracking, so just follow the mark below. This is as far as I go. If we move together any longer, we’ll get caught.”

The man with the gun patted the knight’s shoulder and disappeared.

“…So it’s here, huh.”

The knight slowly moved toward the alley.

He passed by the alley where Sir Dominic was hiding and headed somewhere without hesitation.

“…”

Sir Dominic silently folded his newspaper.

Then, with his collar pulled up tight, he followed the knight.

The knight was too excited to notice that Sir Dominic was tailing him.

Instead, he was whistling while swinging the knife in his hand, seemingly looking forward to what was about to happen.

Sir Dominic observed the knight’s appearance as he followed him.

From behind, the knight was a brown-haired man with a bob cut and three-colored feathers in his hair, carrying a saw-like knife and a cardboard shield.

His armor and clothing seemed hastily made, with loose threads sticking out and parts fixed with safety pins—at a glance, he looked similar to Sir Dominic.

Of course, a closer look would reveal that he wasn’t Sir Dominic.

“…Is it here?”

The knight suddenly flung open a trash can.

But there was nothing but garbage inside.

“Strange. Then is it here?”

Sir Dominic ducked into an alley to avoid the knight’s gaze as he began rummaging around.

Then he peeked out to observe the man’s actions.

“If not here, then… here?”

“Hii, hiiik!”

The knight kicked away a pile of garbage, but there was nothing unusual there either.

However, from under the shadow of a nearby trash can, a terrified necromancer who had been hiding jumped out.

The Newbie, realizing someone was following him, had used all his wits to hide in a corner, but unable to overcome the approaching terror, he had bolted out.

“Found you.”

The knight tossed his cardboard shield into the garbage pile and approached the Newbie with his saw-blade sword.

“Wh-what? Why are you following me?”

The necromancer backed away in fear.

“I have nothing against you, child.”

The knight swung his saw-blade sword.

The sound of wind being torn came from between the saw teeth.

The sound made the Newbie even more frightened and he fell backward, but the knight approached the Newbie with a snicker, as if finding his fear amusing.

“D-don’t come any closer! I’ll use forbidden magic!”

“Go ahead. You’ll just die. How strong could a Newbie’s skills be anyway?”

The knight approached the Newbie with a snicker.

Then he swung his sword down at the Newbie.

“Uwah!”

The Newbie squeezed his eyes shut.

But there was no pain.

The Newbie, feeling strange that he didn’t feel the pain he should have, slightly opened his eyes and looked at the knight.

“Ugh, urgh!”

The Newbie saw that the knight’s sword was blocked by some invisible barrier.

Somehow, that invisible barrier seemed to be protecting him from the knight.

The knight was struggling to break through the barrier.

But the barrier showed no signs of breaking.

The Newbie let out a sigh of relief.

“I-I’m alive…”

“—is what you thought.”

The Newbie looked up at the knight’s face in surprise.

Beyond the invisible barrier, the knight was smiling unpleasantly.

He was snickering nastily, desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

The Newbie’s eyes widened.

The knight dropped his sword from the barrier, then swung it lightly again.

With a clang, the protective barrier shielding the Newbie shattered.

“Ah, I love this expression the most.”

The knight approached the Newbie, who was in shock and whimpering.

Then, grabbing the Newbie’s face with his strong hand, he said:

“That face when the last hope disappears. Yes, that face.”

The Newbie was so shocked that he couldn’t even make a sound as he was held by the knight.

“How did you disable the Newbie Protection System?”

“That’s simple. This sword is from Mountain Bridge Marsh. Hacks were blocked in the recent patch, but there are still various illegal programs… Huh?”

The knight, lost in ecstasy, started babbling in response to someone’s question.

But soon the knight realized something was wrong.

This voice wasn’t the Newbie’s, nor was it his own.

Then whose voice was it?

The knight turned his head with a startled expression to look at the owner of the voice.

“…Sir Dominic!”

The knight stared at Sir Dominic with surprised eyes.

Somehow, Sir Dominic was now standing behind the knight, looking down at him.

“That’s right.”

Sir Dominic took off his hat and threw it away.

Then he threw his coat into the air, and raised his sword and shield.

Sir Dominic already knew who the culprit was, what their motive was, and even what tools they had used for the crime.

Moreover, Sir Dominic had already recorded everything on his phone and sent the evidence to the police.

All that remained was to subdue the culprit to prevent escape.

That was the only thought in Sir Dominic’s mind now.

“S-stop!”

“Ah-“

The knight impersonating Sir Dominic hastily took the Newbie as a hostage.

“If you come any closer, this Newbie dies! You know that, right?”

“Indeed. He is a Newbie after all.”

“That’s right! A Newbie who hasn’t proven their worth can’t be resurrected! If you come any closer, this Newbie will die for good!”

The knight laughed vilely.

Then he frantically rolled his eyes, looking for an escape route.

The impersonator, who had gathered various information while disguising himself as Sir Dominic, knew that Sir Dominic was a tank with no movement skills.

In other words, if he just ran away, there was no chance Sir Dominic could catch up.

The knight slowly moved his feet toward the escape route he had planned.

The Newbie was too frightened to say anything.

He could only swallow his sobs with choked sounds.

Sir Dominic just silently glared at the scene.

With the Newbie taken hostage, he couldn’t do anything.

—Or at least, that’s what Sir Dominic wanted the impersonator to think.

“Huh, what?”

Something suddenly fell onto the impersonator’s head with a flutter.

The impersonator flailed his arms trying to remove whatever was blocking his vision.

At that moment, Sir Dominic rushed in and successfully drove the edge of his shield into the head of the impersonator who was holding the hostage.

To ensure the status effect “stun” was applied, Sir Dominic delivered three additional blows with force, then retrieved his coat that was wrapped around the falling impersonator’s head and firmly stepped on him to complete the subduing.

“I wondered if this would be possible with [Cinematic], but it seems it is.”

Sir Dominic muttered as he put his coat back on.

A wind from somewhere fluttered the hem of Sir Dominic’s coat.

The Newbie, still dazed, suddenly looked up at Sir Dominic’s muttering.

The light entering the alley created a backlight, illuminating behind Sir Dominic’s head like a halo as his coat fluttered.