episode_0004

Follow the road for about an hour and then climb up along the ridge of the mountain at a place marked with a flag.

The bandits must have also used wagons, and when you cross the ridge, you can see a hidden path.

“They must have been so gutsy that they decided to work even though it was so close to the city where the military was stationed.”

“I see. Since this is a city leading to the empire, it seems like work was done in the nearby mountain. Usually, stolen goods from the kingdom flow into the empire, and stolen goods from the empire flow into the kingdom.”

As I follow the entrance to the cave where the last sign is placed with a torch, a tremendous stench wafts from inside.

“Wow, this smells the worst.”

There were no corpses and only equipment piled up, but the smell was extremely strong, probably because the equipment itself had been used for a very long time and there was also a lot of it stained with the blood of enemies.

Even I, who am used to this kind of thing, found it difficult to resist, so I asked Enin what it would be like.

“It smells bad, but do you think it’s okay?”

“It’s better than before. At that time, there were people who intentionally paralyzed their noses because of the smell of rotting corpses outside the castle walls.”

“Ugh… Write.”

“Have you ever seen a corpse inflate and explode? I accidentally turned it over and the smell didn’t go away even after two weeks. It was really the worst.”

“No, you don’t have to tell me that.”

“What else was there? There was a tomb where a giant had fallen, and when people turned over the body to remove it, what was inside…”

“Stop! Please really stop.”

I asked for no reason and ended up hearing a story that reminded me of old times.

If you think about it, Enin is also someone who went through those times, so he might be familiar with it.

Still, it’s good to have fun talking, but it’s a minus in that you’re trying to find common ground from the scenery of the battlefield.

“First, I will move from the outside. Someone has to stay within sight of the carriage.”

“Then I will start from inside the cave.”

Although this area has its own level of security, there were still bandits there until recently, so you never know what might happen. For example, a carriage thief.

It seems that one person must be near the sound.

‘I’m the lieutenant anyway, so I just have to do a little more work.’

When I was in the military, there were many cases where we were the only ones doing the work when an officer told us to do something, but I like Enin because he takes the initiative and does it together.

I go straight inside the cave, but it goes on longer than I thought.

It doesn’t seem to have been dug by bandits directly, and there are claw marks here and there as if it was a place where demonic beasts or low-intelligence other races lived in caves.

Even as you walk along the wall, there are equipment scattered everywhere. Still, the numbers themselves get smaller as you go in, so I might be able to finish it before dinner.

‘uh?’

With that thought in mind, I turn the corner and feel a figure beyond.

Turn off the torch before the shadow goes around the corner.

Immediately, he quietly pulls Estherk from his waist and stops, muttering his footsteps.

Wait a moment for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, then slowly walk in.

They said all the bandits were dead, but did others come?

Or maybe the original demon has returned.

‘No matter what, we have to decide that they are absolutely not our allies.’

Even though there was a sign telling no one to come in, they came in.

He moves quietly, leaning against the wall and hiding the end of the esterk until the very end.

The moment you turn the corner completely and try to see who it is.

Eyes met eyes.

I can see my own eyes reflected in the golden eyes that are looking at me.

Using an Escherk, which has the advantage of stabbing using its long length, I allowed the engagement distance to reach this level.

‘Golden.’

You can’t even get a full picture of how close they are. Even though it’s only for a moment, I feel very embarrassed when I look into someone’s eyes this close.

For a moment, fighting relies on judgment.

It’s so close that you can’t fully check the opponent’s appearance and weapons, but in a fight, the moment you stop even for a moment, you die.

-Shook

Estarke stabbed at the opponent while making a sound, but in an instant, the opponent disappeared from the spot and appeared about 5 meters in front.

‘Teleportation? Is it Blink?’

Seeing that he uses Blink, he might be a high-ranking wizard. If so, it should stick.

If I were a wizard, this would have been a good opportunity for me, but I threw it away.

He didn’t show any signs of chanting, but from my experience dealing with him so far, I had to chase down the wizard at all costs to avoid getting caught in the magic.

“Inhale!”

Immediately, he releases the ax from his waist and throws it towards the opponent, and I rush forward as well.

-Changerang

My opponent caught my ax that flew toward his head and crushed it with his bare hands. Aren’t you a wizard?

Thinking like that, at the same time, he stabs the hole in his vision that was obscured by the axe with his escutcheon.

Among the simple fighting techniques I learned from my teacher, this is one that has a high probability of working if you try it.

If you make simple but quick movements, it will be difficult for the other person to react.

Thanks to this technique, I have been able to defeat opponents that were a bit too much for me a few times on my own.

Phew!

‘It’s a success!’

But I soon came to regret thinking that way.

Estark successfully stabs the opponent in the eye and pops out the back of the head, but the taste of the hand is strange.

“It was a pretty good decision.”

The opponent was a creature that lived and spoke even though its head was pierced.

‘Until now, if you destroy the head, most people die, but if they don’t die even then, it’s embarrassing. Is it a magical creature?’

“Don’t worry. Even if you attack with magic, you can’t kill me.”

It seems like he can read thoughts. Should I just scream like this and make Enin run away?

“I’ll talk for a moment and then let you know, so just stay still.”

As I started to move my head quickly, purple tentacle-like things came out from the other person’s hand and wrapped themselves around my body.

The tentacles were covered in strange slime-like substances, and soon my body was trapped in a prison of slime.

‘What is this? I feel really bad.’

“I don’t like this type of hobby!”

“It doesn’t matter because it’s my preference.”

The tentacles, which are so sticky and unpleasant, give me so much strength that they bind my entire body and I can’t move.

But is it your preference? I was just saying whatever came out, but when I got a scary answer back, I started to get really scared.

“… You’re not really planning on doing something, are you?”

“…”

It’s so scary that the other person remains silent when I ask for confirmation just in case.

“Do you know that no one likes that kind of thing here? There is a little difference between imagination and reality. So, I think it would be better to go somewhere else to do this if possible. Because I and other people will be reluctant to do this.”

Sensing a threat, he quickly came up with excuses. At the same time, among the various genres that I accidentally encountered as a child, my memories of similar genres gradually began to awaken.

“… Stop, stop thinking. I have more not-so-good memories than you can imagine. There is no need to worry because what you think will not happen. It seems there was some misunderstanding. That’s not what I meant by taste, but I’m imagining things too deeply.”

Fortunately, the other person seemed to have said something wrong.

Of all the things I’ve seen in the past, I was having flashbacks wondering what happened in the tentacle genre, but luckily I don’t think I’ll go that far.

“Of course, if you don’t answer properly, you can do as much as you just remembered. As a bonus, even the woman outside.”

“No, I was seriously wrong. I will answer them all, so please take a look.”

A great imagination came to mind for a moment, but since it wasn’t my major taste, I just chose to remain calm.

The opponent’s spec uses the magic of no chanting. The grip strength to break an ax with bare hands. Summon a pet. The tide has already turned. This is an opponent I can never defeat.

If I were alone, I would have just died and gone back, but I’m worried about Enin, so I have to leave that as a last option.

“So what are you trying to ask?”

While asking about business, I looked at the person in front of me. Since you are caught, it might be better to please the other person.

“It’s just a simple confirmation of curiosity.”

The other person said that and began to adjust his clothes for a moment.

As I took my time and looked at the other person, I hadn’t noticed it before because they were so close that their eyes were colliding, but now that I looked at it, I saw that it was just an adult woman.

Her golden-colored hair was tied up with a large number of different colored strings, and she was wearing what looked like a black dress. The tentacles were naturally sprouting out of the dress to the point where the connected parts were indistinguishable.

The woman finished adjusting the dress that had been pushed up by the tentacles sticking out.

And the golden eyes spoke to me.

“Yes. How can a soul from this world be here?”

‘I was caught.’