episode_0053

Jules strode forward.

The strides were so long that I had to run behind them with all my might to chase after them. I vaguely understood it, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were at a disadvantage even though we had discovered the bait in advance.

The place we arrived at was the room where Elysia was staying.

bang!

Jules opened the door roughly.

“Elysia! Wake up! Come on!”

Despite Jules shouting, Elysia wrinkled her beautiful eyebrows and turned around. Jules walked up to Elysia and held out his hand, as if he was thinking of shaking her to wake her up.

“Hurry───.”

“I woke up…! Why on earth are you doing that…?!”

A tired voice was heard.

The narrowed eyes were staring at Jules’ hand.

Jules awkwardly took back the hand that had reached Elysia’s shoulder.

“They are trying to escape. I need an eagle that can fly right now!”

“What…? What happened?”

Maybe it was because I slept in a strange position, but it seemed like I had phlegm. After adjusting her clothes, Elysia stood up with her shoulders relaxed and stretched out her wings.

Boom!

Even though the room was not small, the wings reached all the way to the wall. The wind tickled my hair.

“How many eagles did you bring?”

“Sending it to Horus is the end. I haven’t returned yet.”

“When do you think you’ll be back?”

“I’ll be back around sunset or tomorrow morning. Well, did something happen?”

It only takes a day or two to get from here to Horus? Perhaps because it is a hawk, it is incredibly fast for Jeon Seo-gu.

“They used magic tools! That’s why we haven’t been able to track them down so far.”

Elysia snorted.

“Crazy guys. It looks like Dragonia wants to kill you.”

“That’s right. We need to get Dragonia’s support as quickly as possible. So, go straight to the communication center───.”

Elysia held out her hand and interrupted Jules.

“First, explain the situation. Don’t I need to know what the situation is?”

Elysia interrupted Jules and began combing her hair and tying it back.

“They hid human waste sprinkled with Dragonia perfume around the village.”

“······But?”

“The smell of Dragonia’s perfume disappears after a few days. I think he’s planning to make people think he’s still around and then run away.”

“Can you guarantee that that’s true? What evidence can support it?”

“It may be a lie, but the fact that Dragonia’s magic was used during the conflict is itself proof. What kind of crazy person comes all the way to enemy territory, poops and sprays perfume?”

Elysia sat down on the bed with her arms crossed.

“Juyul, what are you going to do if they start attacking me while I’m away? Human feces may also have been left behind as a distraction.”

It is valid.

“The fact that something without odor was discovered means that it was exposed on the ground, so why are these people who buried even a drop of urine in the ground now doing such a truthless thing? And why would it be shit? It’s a deception. The right answer is to just ignore things like this.”

At the same time, it was logical.

“But I used items related to magic. It doesn’t matter because it’s a reason to receive Dragonia’s support. I will protect the village while you go to the communication post.”

“You know that it’s not enough for you, right? The other person has no smell and cannot be seen. Like what your slave said yesterday, what are you going to do if you get hit by a poisoned arrow?”

Jules seemed to feel that his intuition was solid.

“Have I ever been wrong?”

“There was none. But first, let’s wait for the eagle to return. Dragonia has extraterritoriality and magic. Even if the investigation is a little late, you know that you can’t escape from Dragonia, right?”

Elysia is right.

Jules is certainly strong, but he is ultimately an individual.

There is no way that an area as large as Elysia could be guarded.

Aren’t these people gathered here because the vigilantes are only at the level of vigilantes, and they can’t handle it?

There is also a safety issue.

Most predators and carnivores lie in ambush in blind spots and wait for their prey. There is a noticeable difference between what you see in the sky and what you see on the ground.

I went out at night and found out, but this place is full of blind spots.

The more blind spots there are, the easier it is to be ambushed, and if a vigilante group scouts such a place instead of Elysia, something serious could happen.

They are civilians who only know how to shoot a bow.

They don’t know what a leap forward is, and if they have to run, they will just run forward and die by being stabbed by an arrow.

“If we do that, we might not be able to get the children’s skins back…”

Jules swallowed his words. ···children?

Could it be that they skinned a young Ramrat?! When you say children to Ramrat, you are referring to children under the age of eight?

Jules’ voice became quiet and she immediately closed her mouth.

I felt like I knew why I was suddenly so excited. Just like me and Shir, Jules is a weak person towards children. Even though he didn’t show it, he was angrier than anyone else.

“I think I thought too briefly. I’m sorry for disturbing you while you were sleeping.”

“No, why are you not sleeping…”

“Hmm.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the door due to the artificial pretense of popularity.

This is the elf named Elvin that I saw yesterday. What brought you here this early in the morning? Plus, his expression is dark.

“Elysia?”

“Why on earth are they all flocking here in the middle of the night?!”

I feel annoyed that my sleep has been interrupted.

Elvin hesitated with an embarrassed look on his face, then looked at Elysia with a stern look on his face.

“The vigilante discovered Elysia’s eagle while scouting.”

Elysia’s expression became scary.

As if telling me not to say anything.

“···What are you talking about?”

However, despite his expression, he asks Elvin a question.

“It looks like he was hit by a marauder’s arrow while on his way to Horus.”

······It is said that he is a skilled person who can hit the opponent’s flying eagle. If you want to hit an eagle flying high in the sky, I think you need to practice at least 10,000 arrows no matter how talented you are with a bow.

What if your talents are similar to mine?

I must have fired 100,000 rounds. In any case, it means that you are skilled.

“···Did you die?”

“He died instantly as his heart was pierced, so the pain must not have been long. Jeonseo was tied to his feet.”

Elysia held her temple and let out a slow, long sigh. Elysia’s face, which I was able to look up because she was short, was contemplative.

“How did you do it?”

“I brought him back to the village.”

“Thank you. I will pick you up after work, so please take good care of me.”

“Okay.”

I heard and saw for myself what an eagle is to a siren. Although to others she was just an eagle, she had lost her family. You might not know if it was a natural death or a soldier, but what if your pet died at the hands of someone else?

If I thought my dog was killed by someone—I wouldn’t be able to endure it like that.

“···I’d better go. We can’t let reporting stolen property be delayed. Even if the criminal is caught, the item cannot be found. The communication center is right in front, so I’ll probably be back around this evening.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”

“That’s it. Because I was the one who sent it. If I had spent today without judging myself, I might have survived.”

Since when did it become so easy to feel other people’s emotions?

Or is this just evidence of Elysia’s anger? Extremely repressed anger is like a volcano about to explode, stealing even the courage to say a word.

Elysia was a person who knew how to sharpen her sword using anger as a whetstone. That’s why the anger cooled down. Elysia takes care of all the gear.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“If I can help you.”

“Please do not hand over the right of execution to the Great Witch.”

Jules shook his head.

“You know it won’t work. Because it’s the law.”

Elysia did not show any hint of disappointment.

He silently puts on his armor as if he just knew it would happen.

Soon, Elysia passed us with a dry expression.

“I’m coming.”

Elysia’s eyes, which I glanced at as I passed by, were extremely cold.

It’s so cold that you’ll get burned if you touch it.

*

It’s confusing.

Dawn would break soon, but Elysia left the village even though it was very early in the morning. I also had no intention of falling asleep, as dawn would soon break.

I think the same goes for Juul. I silently checked my armament.

Sreuk─.

Juul took off the dagger from his belt and handed it to me along with the sheath.

“You take the dagger with you.”

This?

“Are you okay?”

“No problem.”

The dagger I received is unusually heavy today.

“Is there anything I need to be careful about when it comes to goblins or trolls?”

“Wild demi-humans hate most civilized demi-humans. They may be scared, but that doesn’t mean they can’t fight, so keep that in mind. Take care with your words. Because among the demihumans, he is the one that resembles humans the most.”

Who is the most human-like?

If it resembles a human, it is scary because it is weak.

They may show safety hypersensitivity, similar to the hysteria typical of herbivores. Wouldn’t it be better to leave your weapon behind so you don’t get rejected? But that’s a bit of a turn-off in its own way.

Because I am that person too.

To think positively, they might think that I am interested and friendly enough to learn the goblin language.

It would be best to gently coax him. A polite strong person is bound to be liked by the weak.

“I have to go out soon, so let’s go get some breakfast.”

“Yes.”

I took my chopsticks and followed Jules out of the room.

Even though it was underground in the wee hours of the morning, many people were preparing for work. Do people here not only distinguish between day and night using blue light, but also have a biological clock?

The interior of the basement is brightly lit by burning torches. Behind the well, there was a long line of people waiting to get water.

Ah, while I was looking away, I became distant from Jules.

I walked closely behind Jules to avoid bumping into other people.

“Is there anything you want to try?”

“Meat. And I want to try real mushrooms.”

“Proper mushrooms?”

“Not raw, but grilled.”

Just as Jules said, the honey mushrooms were delicious.

At first, I thought it was bland, but the strangely sweet smell had a charm that whetted my appetite.

I keep thinking about it, like a drug.

I ate raw mushrooms in the first place, and the fact that I ate them without any resistance was surprising. Isn’t it a sweet food ingredient that tastes sweet when cooked properly?

“Yes.”

Jules, who has an excellent sense of smell, would know this restaurant well.

I walked along without thinking. Because he is short, he cannot see his surroundings clearly. Jules kept turning his head here and there, looking around, and soon entered a small restaurant that looked similar to a food cart.

It may have been made to fit Ramrat’s height, but it was right for me, but it was too low for Juul.

“Welcome. ···Aren’t you the executioner… Seolrang?!”

Ramrat’s mongoose-like eyes widened and stared at Zul.

“That’s right. Four servings of stir-fried beef topped with honey mushrooms.”

When Juul sat down on the chair, Ramrat seemed to have come to his senses and quickly started taking out the ingredients.

The owner’s eyes passed over me.

“Something good just arrived. Would you like me to make something for the slave to eat?”

“Then that’s good.”

Eating 4 servings by yourself?

Ramrat cut the mushrooms into thin strips with a flashing knife and took out a large piece of beef and cut it into pieces. What kind of food does a person with fur…

Unlike humans, ramrats have thin fur and a lot of body hair, like the fur of an animal. Did you pull them all out? The hand exposed like that looked like a bear’s paw with its fur pulled out, no different from a human hand.

The sight gave me goosebumps.

“Executive Officers, I’m so glad you came. Just a few days ago, there was no meat left because of the looters.”

Jules laughed.

“You can just dig into the wall. What kind of meat are you talking about for something this delicious?”

Ramrat laughs in response to Juul’s joke.

“Don’t even talk. No matter how delicious it is, if you eat it every day, your mouth will get tired.”

Still, he shuddered humorously and started frying mushrooms and meat on the iron plate.

······Iron wasn’t precious?

“Isn’t iron precious?”

I don’t think Ramrat heard me because of the sound of meat being chopped.

I feel at ease because I don’t have to explain.

“Because iron is supplied to large cities first. Owner, how much did you pay for that iron plate?”

“Ugh─ If I work for two months, I can barely afford one of these.”

It takes two months of work just to buy a piece of steel plate that is barely the size of a computer monitor. The balance is not right. Ramrat made a fuss, sprinkling various herbs, fruit juices, and salt and stir-frying some more, and then scooped out the food into an earthen bowl.

Wow, it smells good.

I’m glad to try something like this after always eating rough food like whole roast. You eat with a fork and spoon. Unlike what you see in Korea, this spoon is quite thick and deep. But, I’m Korean.

I took out chopsticks.

“It looks dangerous… Are you going to eat it by sticking it in? Do you not know how to use utensils?”

Before I knew it, Ramrat was far away.

His eyes were anxiously looking at the chopsticks.

Jules laughed it off.

“You’ll know when you see it. He’s a bit of an unusual kid.”

It’s absurd.

I think it’s time to show how superior chopsticks are, how clean they are, and how quickly they can be picked up and eaten.