episode_0074

Clear the way with your life.

The utterly out-of-place yet endlessly resolute words turned Belita’s absurd misconception into a ‘trivial’ error mixed with truth.

“Huff…! This is a mess! Move!”

“Any way to just get near Felmia…!”

As soon as they heard his words, even the atmosphere changed drastically, and the employees, who had become witnesses proving Belita’s speculation to be true, began desperately clearing the way with their lives, literally.

Abandoning the remaining two luggage carriages completely.

“No, was it really?!”

I stopped running towards Belita, gaping at them in disbelief.

“Get out of the wayyy!”

“Lord Rug! Please go ahead! I will stop them here!”

Employees pushing Belita’s subordinates with force.

Their skills were clearly inferior to the enemies, but with a disregard for their own lives, they compensated for the skill gap, wide open the path for the carriage to escape.

If stabbed by a spear, they would lurch forward, grab the opponent, and protect the horse’s life by taking arrows upon themselves.

‘These people weren’t normal upper echelons from the start.’

They fought like cornered beasts. A suicidal special forces unit that even rigorously trained soldiers couldn’t match.

It wasn’t the kind of behavior expected from a mere upper echelon employee.

The name “Rebilla Upper Echelon” was nothing more than an external facade, a disguise to avoid suspicion from others.

“…Sorry! Go ahead first!”

Anyway, thanks to their struggle, Rug’s carriage successfully broke through the enemy’s obstruction and began to dash toward its original destination.

“What are you doing! Chase them to the end!”

Seeing this, Belita shouted angrily at her subordinates.

After diverting the adventurers’ attention and even shaking their confidence, she couldn’t stop one carriage and was being broken through again, displaying an attitude of chasing after them.

“Yes, ma’am! We apologize! We will chase them right away!”

Bellita’s subordinates were taken aback, hastily turning to chase after Ruge’s carriage, apologizing. Not only those who had been blocking the carriage’s passage, but also those who had been in combat with adventurers.

“……”

Barthu and Jane did not stop them.

Instead of striking the exposed enemies with their swords and arrows, they discreetly lowered their weapons and withdrew.

It couldn’t be considered cowardly. As Bellita had said, if Ruge was transporting Yotun’s heart, that alone would constitute a breach of contract.

Since the client had breached the contract first, the adventurers no longer had any reason to faithfully adhere to the terms of the request.

Moreover, in the current situation, urging us to block the enemy at the risk of our lives and then abandoning us is not acceptable.

In such a situation, helping to fulfill the contract to the end is not an act of righteousness, it’s just being a sucker.

“Ugh….”

“No, seriously, what is this…?”

Therefore, Freida and Amy seemed to have no intention of fighting further, simply leaving the enemies to chase after the carriage without intervening.

The trio from Amina’s group didn’t need to be mentioned. They were sitting down, sighing heavily as if everything had been resolved.

They’re surprisingly alive. Even though their skills are the most lacking among humans.

While other adventurers were fiercely struggling, were they just looking out for their own necks? If that’s really the case, my aversion to them will only deepen. Amy seems so frustrated she can’t even close her eyes.

“What? Why aren’t you fighting? Surrender now!”

Only Kikel seemed unable to understand why the other adventurers were staying still, preparing to shoot the enemies, but…

“No, we’re not surrendering… Just stay quiet for now. The situation is turning strange.”

Amy restrained him, giving him a look that said to pay attention.

“Cough… That’s right. I got carried away.”

Kikel let out a light sigh as if feeling sheepish, lowering his weapon. He seemed to have gotten overly excited because of the bloody battle.

Thus, ultimately, the enemies were able to pursue Ruge’s carriage without any hindrance.

“…You’re not going, what are you doing?”

Except for Bellita, who was standing still and staring at me.

◆◆

People say that when they get nervous, they talk a lot. Bellita seemed to have been extremely nervous, as she delivered a lengthy speech that seemed to be filled with soul.

Even though she completely overturned the situation with that one blow, instead of chasing after the carriage with her subordinates, she just stared at me.

“…What’s going on?”

She turned her head to look at the direction the fleeing carriage was heading, then turned back to look at Freide and me once each.

After that, she extended her uninjured left hand, pointing towards the carriage with her mouth open.

“What are you doing? We should chase after them.”

Her expression as she threw the question at me seemed more bewildered than angry.

“You crazy woman. Why would I chase after them?”

“Huh?”

Bellita raised her eyebrows with a smirk.

“Do you think those guys can escape unharmed without your girls?”

Do I know about it? That.

When I saw Rug moving Yotun’s heart, I was convinced that I had been hired as some sort of secret bodyguard to protect my own heart…

That’s an enormous misconception, isn’t it?

“I don’t know anything about it. I was just tricked by those swindlers while trying to make some money from a simple job.”

I replied with an irritable tone, filled with a sense of injustice so strong that even a judge cruel enough to sentence a minor to death would declare innocence, brimming with unjust emotions.

I wonder if that emotion was properly conveyed to Bellita.

“…Really?”

Bellita asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“Yeah. I just found out now that the cargo was Yotun’s heart.”

“No… really?”

Bellita looked like someone who had found hundreds of drawings of half-human, half-beast creatures in the phone of a lover she suspected of infidelity, instead of evidence of infidelity.

“Really, there was no connection at all, and I just misunderstood, and got caught up in it again? Is this even possible…?”

Bellita seemed incredulous even to herself, bursting into a bitter laugh and then furrowing her brow while roughly ruffling her thick red short hair.

“Tsk, sigh. This is awkward…”

Then, I alternately looked at my horse and carriage while sighing and licking my lips.

Bellita’s subordinates were engaging in a pursuit, but Rug’s baggage carriage was gradually disappearing into the distance.

“……”

It seems like an intense internal conflict is showing on their face.

As I entertained such thoughts in my mind and lightly loosened the finger gripping the longsword,

– Swish.

Bellita finally seemed to make up her mind and aimed her index finger at me.

What’s this? Is she trying to shoot a beam or something?

When I reflexively lowered the sword and assumed a defensive posture,

“Cough… Hey, you. Let’s meet next time. I’ll definitely tear that big head of yours off, so wash your neck and wait, okay?”

With a line that felt so third-rate villainous, Bellita began to retreat stealthily.

It seemed like she judged that chasing the carriage was more important than fighting me.

“What do you mean ‘next time’? I don’t want to do that.”

“Hey, where are you going! You should kneel under Hillde’s feet and beg for your life!”

Or maybe it was because of Freide advancing with a face that seemed to suggest that the opportunity for a showdown had finally arrived, twirling the steel greatsword.

Injured in the right arm, I couldn’t possibly face both Freide and her at the same time.

“Is there still a fight here? Strong opponents are good!”

“Isn’t this just a scratch…? But still, if I think about it as a chance to claim the bounty for Bellita’s head… not bad.”

Even Kikel and Amy were preparing their weapons again.

Bardu and Jane raised their hands lightly as if to say “don’t get involved,” but even if they didn’t help, it was still a one-on-one situation.

“Let’s finish it here instead of thinking about seeing each other next time.”

Bellita had no chance of winning. I declared that I would stick it out until the end so confidently.

When people become desperate, they endlessly become confident. Conversely, when they are at a disadvantage, they endlessly become despicable.

“Hah, look at these guys talking. Aren’t I very amusing?”

Bellita revealed this with a smirk as if she found it amusing.

“Yeah. You could consider changing your profession to a clown.”

Then it wouldn’t be funny, would it? The appearance at the time was overflowing with confidence, like a cornered beast with a desperate face.

“…This is ridiculous. Seriously.”

Bellita twisted her mouth as if scratching the inside of her stomach.

She glanced at me and Priddy, Kikel and Amy, then slightly bent her waist, tightly clenching her left hand.

“Alright, let’s give it a try. You adventurers.”

A clear combat stance.

As I was about to rush towards her, driving myself into the ground, Bellita fiercely shouted, bending her knee and striking the ground with her left hand.

Almost equal to my strength, activated by her…

In other words, troll-level power.

Kwaaaaah!

The surrounding ground shook for a moment as shattered rocks spurted up like a fountain, along with a sudden burst of earthy dust.

“Smoke?!”

Bellita’s figure was obscured by the thick rising dust.

Is she planning to hide in the dust and launch a surprise attack?

“Kikel, protect Amy!”

If she plans to ambush, Amy would be the most vulnerable.

Deciding so, I leaped into the dust without hesitation, shouting at Kikel to protect her.

“Where are you hiding?!”

Swinging my sword toward Bellita’s vaguely sensed location.

Hooong!

The dark iron blade split the dense brown mist in two with a fierce sound. The dust stirred by the pressure of the blade scattered like smoke.

However, there was no sensation of hitting anything.

“She dodged?!”

It was the sound of something missing its target.

“You sneaky little…!”

Just as I urgently turned my head to confirm Bellita’s whereabouts…

“No! Hey! Look over there! It’s escaping!”

Amy pointed in the direction where the carriage was fleeing.

“What?! Now?”

Turning my head sharply in that direction… indeed.

The red-haired criminal, who had just been ready to fight for his life, was now running away from us with all his might.

He was already almost seventy meters away.

“Where are you going? Stop right there!”

“You slowpokes! Do you think you can catch me? See you later!”

There’s no need to chase after her. Bellita was getting farther away in the blink of an eye.

She didn’t just run with her two legs, but used the recoil from striking the ground with her left hand to leap forward, making her speed as fast as lightning.

Every time I saw shards of what seemed to be armor and gauntlets flying up, it seemed like she was enduring even an injury to her left arm…

Anyway, we couldn’t catch up with that speed.

“…We lost her.”

Frida sighed with a face full of regret.

“Is that a rabbit-human? I’ve never seen a beastman like that before,” Kikel marveled, raising his hand to watch Bellita’s escape.

“It’s a shame… But then, what about our reward?” Amy exhaled as if disappointed, then suddenly turned to me with a question.

The client was a swindler and has escaped, so the request is a failure, and it seems we won’t even get Bellita’s bounty.

So ultimately, we won’t receive a single penny, will we?

“Um…”

I don’t know either. If I explain the situation to the guild, we might be able to receive at least the basic compensation that was entrusted as an advance payment…

But that would amount to nothing more than a few silver coins. It would be impossible to settle the additional rewards that had accumulated every time we defeated raiders.

And those rewards probably weren’t even entrusted to the guild.

In other words, we ended up eliminating all those bandits for free.

“So, let’s try to at least secure the basic compensation later,” I explained to Amy, and she sighed deeply, nodding her head.

“Ah… Hey, Hilde. If it’s not too uncomfortable, can I choose the requests from now on?”

After saying that, she asked if she could decide on the requests instead, as it always seemed like the ones I chose ended up being troublesome.

“……”

I had no words to refute.

“Th-th… Uh, well…! Miss Hilde…? I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s a good idea, should I…?”

I had to agree with Amy’s opinion so carefully and repeatedly chosen that it was enough to even make Fredo, who is against Amy, spit out his words.

“Ah, well, of course! There’s nothing wrong with Hilde, but, but! Well, but…”

“…Alright, let’s do that.”

In the end, I couldn’t help but agree with their words, sighing. Because even I could see that the requests I’ve been choosing lately have all been quite serious.