Ch.69Innocent NPCs Getting Dragged In. (3)

Let’s talk about the game “Eight” again after a while.

Online games have quite a few classes.

Mages include Sorcerers and Battle Mages. Warriors have Berserkers and Blades. Supporters have Druids and Bishops, and so on.

Well, listing all the types would just make this too long, so I’ll skip ahead. The point is that among the fighter classes, there’s one called Striker.

Yes. Among this escort quest party, that woman over there with tiger ears (not cat ears) and a tiger tail has one of those player classes.

“…You weren’t satisfied with my cat costume? Want me to do it again?”

“That’s not it.”

“You’ve been staring intensely. Don’t tell me you actually have a thing for beastfolk?”

“I told you that’s not it.”

“Ready to be punished anytime, nya~?”

“Should I throw you away?”

“Tch.”

Today is the day Green Stone teaches Ira magic.

I told Gorr and Ray that I’d leave Ira with them while I went out on a request for the day. Ira wanted to come along too, but she understood when I promised to take her with me after she becomes an adventurer. She really is a good little sister.

“So? Why were you so concerned about this request, and why do you keep staring at that woman?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

“Oh my? Are you looking down on me now?”

“No. I just don’t think I can explain it well.”

“I see. Well, can’t be helped then.”

I’ve arrived at the location specified in the request I received earlier and am preparing for escort duty. The destination isn’t too far—just a village about a day’s carriage ride from Aigram where goods need to be delivered.

In the original story, this was described as a routine delivery of daily necessities, but now it seems they’re helping rebuild a village destroyed by demon attacks.

Honestly, I don’t care much about that. I just want to know if she’s really in a player’s position—or rather, if this beastperson is one.

To be honest, as soon as I saw her class, I thought about canceling the request, but… a white tiger beastfolk.

Players sometimes created characters with animal ears, but I’m trying to confirm if a beastperson could actually be in a player position in this reality. Especially a DPS class.

If she’s a [Striker], I definitely need to confirm.

‘If she turns out to be a troll, the continent’s future isn’t just bleak—it’s already over.’

Like in any online RPG, if a DPS player has issues with their fingers, there’s no hope—and Eight is no exception.

If that tiger woman’s real-world control is garbage, I’ll have to make Ira a mage and then rush straight to Episode 6 area to start leveling.

Otherwise, we might truly face every possible disaster.

While I was thinking this through, the escort quest began without much discussion. A total of six carriages departed.

We were assigned to the frontmost carriage.

“Even though you have a gold rank, they’re not putting you near the important supplies. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“Huh? Why? I’m an outsider anyway.”

“What does being an outsider have to do with it? We’re in a convoy ‘delivering’ supplies outside, so it’s only natural to place strong people to protect the supplies. It’s not like there are any valuables or nobles there.”

I can’t tell her that while there’s no noble, the person in charge of this merchant convoy is the merchant guild master’s daughter.

Only the traitors targeting her and the thieves carrying out the plan know this fact.

In the middle of this convoy—right behind us—the real person in charge is hiding in a carriage along with the cargo.

And the player is supposed to notice this, snoop around that carriage, and meet her during a rest break…

“Hey. If you really like beastfolk, I can go ‘meow meow’ for you, you know?”

The white tiger woman has noticed me staring at her and keeps trying to appeal to me this way, but I really wish she would stop because that’s not it at all!!

“Ragni, sometimes you really seem like an idiot.”

“I’m only like this in front of you, you know? I wish you’d understand that.”

“……”

What’s with her and Ray both coming on so strong to me? That last comment actually made my heart skip a beat.

Sigh, don’t worry. I really just want to know if this white tiger woman suspected of being a player is actually one or not.

As I chat casually with Ragni while looking ahead at the carriage, my [Veteran Ranger] skill’s presence detection confirms the white tiger woman’s position.

Hmm, unlike us, that beastperson is in the rearmost carriage. I wonder how she’ll handle the quest progression that’s supposed to happen in the middle row. And…

“Ragni.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to go back to the Empire?”

“Suddenly? What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re trying to return me so you can take that beastwoman instead?”

No, you crazy woman.

At this point, I’m starting to think she’s jealous of the other woman.

Why though? What conversation did I even have with that person? It’s not like that at all! I’m only asking because of the presences I’m detecting, seriously.

“I had a talk with the mayor.”

“Okay.”

“The Empire sent something to capture you.”

“…Assassins, I see.”

“……”

[-Class: Thief- Level: 20]

[-Class: Imperial Assassin- Level: 54]

Wait, how did you immediately think of assassins rather than kidnappers? I really don’t understand how Empire people think.

Were they hiding in ambush in the surrounding mountains? I was just trying to probe vaguely based on the status of those detected by my [Veteran Ranger] presence skill, but she immediately caught on.

The demon mayor would have blocked them from entering the city, so they waited for us to come out. And that time is now.

Of course, I don’t know how the thieves’ situation overlapped with this, but honestly, I did intentionally lure them out to target us.

“Jack… I…”

“Ah, listen to me first.”

“……”

There’s this cliché.

The heroine secretly thinks to herself and decides ‘I should disappear from their side for their own good,’ creating an unnecessarily complicated situation where the male lead has to go through avoidable hardships chasing after her—a predictable story extension.

During that process, the emotions between the heroine and protagonist grow closer, their affection and trust increase through various events, but I have no desire to go through that.

Besides, trust is something that good people like us can build just by talking to each other.

“This is an order. Don’t say things like: One, it’s dangerous to be with me. Two, it’s better if I leave. Three, I want to return to the Empire too. Don’t say anything you think is for someone else’s benefit. Now, speak honestly about what you really want.”

“……”

When I give this order to Ragni, who wears the [Collar of Subjugation], she looks at me emptily with her red eyes.

What? Why?

This is how good people communicate. Truth or truth. Let’s remove unnecessary consideration.

“…I want to have your child.”

“……”

You crazy woman. I told you to speak honestly and that’s what comes out? Nevertheless.

“Anyway, you don’t want to leave and you don’t want to die, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Okay.”

I understand Ragni’s wishes now, which means I have no reason to spare the Empire’s people coming for us.

These people who volunteered to kill their own country’s princess. If Ragni had expressed any desire to return to the Empire, I wouldn’t have planned to kill them, but…

‘You’re the ones who cut ties first.’

I gesture to Ragni, who’s looking at me worriedly from the opposite side, to come to my side, and she trudges over.

“Don’t worry. Picking a fight with a ranger in the mountains is insanity—I never lose to untrained kids.”

“…Okay.”

As I gently pat her head while speaking softly, Ragni immediately blushes and lowers her head.

Hmm. This side of her is actually cute…

“*heavy breathing* *heavy breathing*”

“……”

I patted your head to calm you down, and this is how you respond? Truly unpleasant to see.

*

“Boss, someone’s asking to see you?”

“…What?”

The leader of the bandit group that had settled in the mountains outside Aigram—where security had weakened after the appearance of a massive demon—frowned at the news that someone was looking for them before tonight’s important operation.

“…How many are there?”

“From what I can tell, about the same number as us.”

“……”

Suddenly so many people coming to find us. The bandit leader felt uneasy and instructed his subordinates to arm themselves before ordering them to bring in the representative of the other party. The other side, as if they had been waiting, sent in just one masked person.

“Who are you people?”

“If you knew who we were, we’d have to kill all of you, so don’t ask such things.”

“……”

The bandit leader swallowed hard at the visitor’s matter-of-fact statement despite being outnumbered 5 to 1.

He could tell from the slight killing intent emanating from the man’s body that those words weren’t mere bluster.

“I was thinking of taking the bandit leader’s head and just using his men, but since you seem to understand, I’ll speak plainly. Help us.”

“…Help with what?”

He was a long-time bandit leader. And he knew well that the way for bandits to survive long wasn’t about strength or intelligence.

It was intuition. The ability to quickly sense whether a path led to death or survival, whether they could successfully ambush their targets and win.

And his intuition was telling him: if they didn’t cooperate with this man, they would all be annihilated here.

“The carriage convoy you’re planning to attack tomorrow. All of you attack the rear flank.”

Convinced that their plans had already been leaked, the bandit leader reluctantly nodded, trusting his instincts.

And then.

“What bullshit. Who do they think they are, Children of Darkness? Kill them all.”

The ranger who had been observing their meeting from afar using status windows and skills cursed to himself.