chapter_0144

‘What kind of woman is she?’

I hid in the cargo hold of the leading carriage and thought about why this masked woman was doing this.

There was no clear answer. Mercenaries and magicians were left half-dead, but no one was killed, and the caravan people were left alone even more.

The masked woman’s actions were quite different from what I knew.

‘Is she trying to prevent the incident from getting too big?’

If the caravan was seriously looted or dozens of merchants were killed, it wouldn’t be unusual for knights to be dispatched instead of mercenaries. She might be wary of such a situation.

Diana’s caravan was being attacked, but she didn’t want the incident to get too big, so she destroyed the carriages to obstruct the passage.

‘The point of contention is who benefits from this order…’

Diana had also investigated all the caravans that stood to gain from this incident, but to no avail. Most of them didn’t have the resources to hire mercenaries of this caliber for several weeks.

Moreover, they were struggling because they weren’t receiving their goods on time, so they were far from benefiting from this situation.

“It’s about time for the attack. You should prepare, Young Master.”

“I know.”

A cautious voice came from outside the carriage. I put on a robe and a mask to hide my identity, just like the masked woman. I didn’t want to reveal who I was first.

“Have you told everyone the plan?”

“Yes. Everyone who joined us is aware of it.”

I wanted to see for myself how the masked woman acted, so I deliberately made this caravan a sacrificial pawn. It was the largest in scale, but the items inside were the least valuable.

A sacrificial pawn was usually a life-threatening role, but since everyone had been attacked by the masked woman for several weeks, they knew they wouldn’t die, so they accepted it without any complaints.

“She’s here! It’s that woman!”

A sharp cry rang out, and the last thing I did was check the weapon at my waist. A sword was diagonally stuck in the front of the leading carriage, trembling.

A masked woman descended from somewhere and grabbed the sword.

A tall figure, a black outfit that clung to her body, a hood that covered her head, and a plain mask that covered her face, her unusual attire contrasted with her exceptional movements.

At first glance, she didn’t seem to be a character from the original work. If there had been a woman dressed like this in the original work, someone would have mentioned her at least once.

The woman drew her sword with precise movements and gestured to the carriage driver.

“As always, I’ll just destroy the carriage and leave, so come out quietly.”

“I absolutely can’t do that!”

“I don’t like doing this either. So, please step aside quietly. Please.”

‘I don’t like doing this?’

The incident was becoming more and more confusing. To truly understand the situation, I had to capture her alive no matter what.

“If you don’t like it, you can just step aside! Everyone, draw your weapons!”

The merchants took cover, and the carriage drivers drew their weapons. Just as we had agreed.

“……Fine. Do as you please. It’s the path you chose.”

The woman rushed forward in an instant. And she began to strike the wrists of the carriage drivers, just as she had done before.

She dodged the pouring arrows and approached, striking their wrists to make them drop their weapons, using the disarmed carriage drivers as shields to prevent the archers from shooting recklessly, and then putting restraints on their thumbs.

The process of moving on to the next person was as smooth as flowing water. It didn’t take long for all the carriage drivers to be subdued without a single drop of blood shed.

“If you had done this from the beginning, it would have been better.”

The woman muttered softly as she approached the carriage. I quickly hid on the floor to avoid making any noise. The woman was completely unaware of my presence and focused only on destroying the carriage.

The woman, who had destroyed a much larger number of carriages than usual, turned to leave without touching the boxes, only searching the carriage drivers’ pockets and taking six fairy tales.

My observation was over, and it was time to take action. I approached her from the front and deactivated the invisibility magic.

“That’s a pretty unusual behavior for a thief.”

With a hoarse voice thanks to the transformation magic, I appeared out of thin air, and the woman, startled like a cat seeing a cucumber, jumped back and pointed her sword at me.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“If I was going to tell you that, there would be no reason to wear this mask. You’re the same, so why are you doing this?”

I tapped my finger on my mask. The woman’s demeanor became more sharp.

“Are you a mercenary?”

“Hmm. If I were a mercenary, wouldn’t I have tried to stop you before you destroyed the carriage?”

Since I didn’t know her identity, it was better to keep my identity hidden as well. The masked woman was suspicious.

“If you’re an outsider, just go your own way. If you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you.”

“That won’t do. I’m a little short on money right now. If I save these people, I’ll be able to get something out of it, won’t I?”

“……You’re stupid.”

The woman lowered her stance as if she were about to pounce at any moment. I drew my cheap iron sword and prepared to counter.

Kwang! The woman’s body kicked up dust as she closed the distance at a much faster speed than when she attacked the carriages. Even in this situation, she didn’t want to take a life, as the tip of her sword was aimed at my shoulder.

“Where?”

Of course, she wasn’t my match.

I used physical enhancement to strike the sword’s tip and aimed for the mask. It was dangerous to stab the face, as it could kill her before I could even cast a healing spell, so I angled it as diagonally as possible.

I didn’t know the durability of the mask, so I had to be careful with my strength. Hiding my identity was more important than defeating her.

-Kkagak!

“……!!!!!!!”

As the sword blade scraped against the mask, making a rattling sound, the woman tried to attack again, but quickly backed off and adjusted her crooked mask. She was desperate to keep her identity hidden.

“Oh, you have quite a bit of skill. I thought I could take off your mask with that.”

At the very last moment, she slightly turned her head. That’s why it only rattled. If she hadn’t, it would have definitely come off. I slightly adjusted the woman’s skill level.

The woman, who had adjusted her mask, pointed her sword at me again and opened her mouth.

“I have one question. Do you believe in coincidences?”

“Suddenly? Well, if I have to answer, I do believe in them.”

There have been quite a few things in my life that I would call coincidences. Who would have guessed that I would be reincarnated into a novel twice?

“I don’t believe in them.”

“Oh. But why?”

“It means that I don’t see you as a random outsider, but as a mercenary hired by the caravan. It seems they’ve brought in a big shot this time.”

Then, she suddenly turned and started to run away.

‘Why are you running away when you’re carrying so much weight?’

I had planned to chase her, but I was a little surprised that she would do it at this timing. I followed her, a little taken aback, but it wasn’t too difficult to keep up with her thanks to my physical enhancement and acceleration.

The woman was running for her life. Her gritted teeth were clearly visible from behind.

‘How long can she keep this up?’

Regardless of her desperation, I could catch her if I wanted to, but I deliberately maintained a distance of about 10 meters, as if I were barely keeping up with her.

I wanted to find out where her base was.

If I pushed her to the limit in this chase, she would either find a place to rest or return to her base to rest. I was aiming for the latter.

After all, this was the only carriage I had sacrificed in this trip. There was no next target, so I figured I would just keep following her until she eventually went home or to work.

With that in mind, the chase continued for a full three hours.

“Huh! Huff! Huff!”

“Your breathing is rough. Why don’t you give up?”

“Huff, you…! Stop chasing me…! You’re a stubborn bastard…”

“If I was going to give up, I would have done it a long time ago.”

It seemed that she had reached her limit, as she had been running non-stop with physical enhancement for a while.

Her speed slowed noticeably, and her breathing became much rougher. Her legs were so weak that she almost tripped and fell.

‘That’s enough. If I keep chasing her, I’ll really catch her.’

I deliberately stopped and threw my iron sword, pretending to be tired. The woman barely dodged the sword that grazed her, and as soon as she saw me stop, she ran away with all her might.

I waited a while, and when she was out of sight, I used invisibility magic and followed her trail. As expected, the woman was lying on the ground right where my sight ended.

“Huff… Finally… Huff… Did you give up… Huff… Stubborn bastard…”

The woman wiped the sweat that had soaked into her clothes, and steam rose from her sweaty skin.

‘She never takes off her mask. Does she really hate revealing her identity?’

Her whole body was soaked in sweat, so her face and head must have been uncomfortable as well, but she never took off her hood or mask. She was a strange woman.

I turned away when I saw her green hair, which had been sticking to her skin, fall down to her waist.

“……I need to move.”

How long had I been looking away when the woman, still wobbling, stood up?

“There was only one carriage this time, so… I guess I can rest today…”

‘It seems there’s someone behind her.’

That meant someone had informed her of the location and number of carriages that had left the caravan. Whether it was an internal enemy or an external person was something I needed to investigate further.

“Haa, haa… Almost there…”

As she had been running away, she had deliberately circled the same area to make it harder to follow her, but it only took 40 minutes for her to stop.

The place where she stopped was in front of a shack. To be more certain, I decided to wait and see what she would do.

“Hoo…”

The woman took off her hood, and to my surprise, she even took off the mask she never took off and put it in her pocket. The green hair that had been soaked in sweat flowed down her back.

Finally, she took off the ring on her finger, and a change began.

‘Huh?’

Her height, which had been quite tall, shrank, and her green hair, which had reached her hips, shortened to just above her wing bones. Even the color changed to brown, making her look like a completely different person.

The woman, who had shrunk to a little smaller than the average adult woman, wiped the sweat inside her clothes and grabbed the doorknob. I opened my mouth, trying to hide my surprise.

“You live in a shabby place for your skills. Are you not getting paid properly?”

“What, what?”

The woman froze, still holding the doorknob, as if she had been struck by lightning. She didn’t even try to turn around or move recklessly, probably because she had taken off her mask.

“Is there an illusion magic on the ring? I didn’t feel any mana, but it’s interesting. Is it an artifact?”

“……You’re good at turning my words around. Were you deliberately pretending to be thrown off and watching me?”

“It’s not spying, it’s surveillance. Okay, don’t try anything stupid and put down your weapons and mask. Otherwise, you’ll be bound by a restraint spell and dragged away. The choice is yours.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then sighed deeply and answered.

“If you promise not to harm me and not approach the shack, I won’t.”

“Not harming you is a given, but I can’t let you go behind. I need to check what’s inside…”

Suddenly, I sensed a human approaching the barrier I had set up far away. There were six of them, and they were heading straight for this shack.

The situation felt suspicious.

“Did you have a prior appointment? Or are they reinforcements?”

“Appointment? Reinforcements? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Someone is approaching this way, so that’s what I’m talking about. If it’s not an appointment or reinforcements, what else could bring people to a shack in the middle of this deep forest?”

“……!”

The woman, who was still holding the doorknob, trembled. I wondered why, but the question was soon answered.

The people, who were now close enough for me to hear their voices, shouted with anger.

“Ibrante! You bitch! You screwed up again! Get your ass out here now!”

It was a voice filled with anger, but my consciousness was focused elsewhere.

“……Ibrante?”

The woman in front of me was called by a name I was very familiar with.

P.S. Hello Everyone! I’m VarieTL. I hope you are all enjoying this Novel! I only wanted to announce that I have posted a new Novel on the site 🙂

The novel is called: I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy

You can find it here: Novel

Summary:

Baek Woo-jin has spent three years playing a text-based game with 999 endings. In all those endings there is only death and misfortune for the character ‘Wolf’.

However, after finishing the last ending and preparing to close and then delete the game window, a small message window appears, offering Woo-jin a chance to create the 1,000th ending. Baek Woo-jin accepts the challenge, and possess the character Greed.

For now there are only 5 chapter on the site but you can read 25 advance chapters on my Ko-Fi

The schedule is just like this one, one chapter a day.

Good readings!