Published: August 2, 2025
Four chapters updated today simultaneously.
This story is the first chapter.
…There are three of them, I think.
I was delayed quite a bit because of the slime story, and while walking down a dark night road, I noticed something following me.
In a place with no one around at this hour. Three separate people keeping a certain distance from each other. Yet, all moving at a steady pace in the same direction as me. …How obvious. Still, it doesn’t seem like they’re complete amateurs.
If I consider the three following me as a team, they have good coordination. There’s no escape route behind unless I take someone down. The front looks clear, but could there be an ambush somewhere?
If I keep going straight, I’ll reach the North Gate. There are guards there, so if they’re targeting me, they must be planning something before I get there. Then I should check before I arrive.
I turned right at the next corner, then hurriedly turned right again at the following one. Just as I dived in, I heard a voice.
“Have we been spotted?”
“I didn’t see any signs, though…”
“…It’s that corner!”
“Oops…”
One of the men shouted, and heavy footsteps approached.
I hurried to escape but…
“Over here!”
They keep chasing me even though I tried to lose them several times… Actually, in situations where I should have lost sight of them, it seems they still know my location.
…There’s no one around except my pursuers. No tall buildings that could give a good view of the wide area. Then… let’s head over there.
“Hey, where’s the kid?”
“He’s been running away the whole time. He must have hidden somewhere nearby…”
“He definitely knows he’s being chased.”
“If he didn’t, we’d have caught him already. Hiding in a place like this…”
“Damn it! This is such a pain!”
In the northeastern part of Gimul, near the slums, this area is hardly clean. Obstacles are placed on the roads, and many places have cloths stretched out as sunshades.
Thanks to the darkness and my child’s body, they’re losing track of my position here and there. The comrades who were lying in wait have also joined them. It’s about time…
“Luckily, no one’s watching. We have the numbers, so let’s sweep through them one by one!”
“Ugh!?”
“Take cover! Arrows!”
“Teleport!”
“Tch! Over there!?”
“Wha—? From this side too!?”
“Could it be their comrade!?”
“Teleport!”
Moving among the obstacles with short-distance teleportation, firing arrows coated with the medicine slime’s paralysis poison (which acts instantly) at their limbs, suppressing them is a simple task and quickly done.
“Ugh…”
“Damn, poisoned arrows…”
“You won’t be able to move properly for a while. That poison is pretty strong when I checked.”
“You damn brat!”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
I approached the immobilized men, pointing a spear at one of them.
“Hah… Don’t think you’ll get away with this… But if you hand over the money we earned from the limule bird, I might forgive you. Hot! Hot! Stop it!”
“Why are you acting all high and mighty?”
I quickly launched a fireball from the spear. It didn’t hit, but the wind pushing aside the cool air felt pretty warm.
“Ah.”
He reflexively knocked down the incoming object.
“Kyaa!?”
“So it’s that. I see.”
It was a dark-colored owl-like magical beast.
…A regret owl. Its claws contain poison that heightens nerve sensitivity, causing intense pain by digging deep wounds into flesh when it grabs an enemy with its sharp claws. Moreover, since it is nocturnal, it specializes in silently hunting enemies under cover of darkness…
The feet and claws can also be used as medicine ingredients, so I recognized it. But since they don’t inhabit around here, this must be a familiar. Were they making noise to let it ambush me?
“What!? How did you—”
“I just knocked it down normally, but the bird was on alert.”
The man shouted after seeing the familiar roll on the ground, apparently with a broken wing from the strike.