Chapter 87

Chapter 87. The Old Woman in the Tower (12)

It seemed roughly twenty minutes had passed.

Rick was breathing hard, but he was still maintaining the same speed as before. Listening to his breathing, I frowned at my own body, which felt completely fine.

Normally, after sprinting at full speed this long, I should be out of breath.

I could feel that the wall had broken inside my body.

It seemed the scrolls Rene attached to me only blocked my power enough that I would not feel pain.

Damn it! I feel like I am gradually turning back into what I used to be.

Thinking that, I ran between the trees with a frown on my face.

Then, suddenly, the Light floating above my head disappeared in an instant, and we were forced to stop in place because of the darkness that abruptly descended.

Huh?

“Haa! Hah! Are we here?”

“It seems so. Dear, where are you?”

After hearing my words, Rick looked around while breathing hard and tilted his head, but a moment later, he nodded again.

Because Rene walked out from the forest over there.

“This way. Hurry over.”

We ran again to where Rene stood, and Rene, who had been standing beside a tree waiting for us, took the lead and walked forward.

Looking around the area, Rene said this.

“It seems the part about the mithril mine was true. There is a barrier set up.”

“What do you mean?”

At my words, Rene smiled gently and opened her mouth.

“It means magic cannot be used. Mithril is a metal that reacts to magic, so they put measures like this in place. If even the most insignificant magic fell on a place where large amounts of mithril were buried, it would cause a great disaster.”

At her words, Rick and I nodded.

Mithril was a magic metal and extremely expensive, but it was just as dangerous.

If magic was cast on mithril that had not been refined with chemicals, it would amplify that magic dozens of times over.

If even one Fire Ball happened to fall into a mithril mine, the continent might split in two.

That was why a magic circle was installed in places where mithril was discovered.

At that moment, Rick, who had been examining the surroundings for a while, asked,

“Where is that Kennis fellow?”

“He is waiting ahead for us to come.”

“What? That man? He did not run away?”

“Why would I run? I joined hands with you because I am sick of acting as a thieves’ underling.”

Rick saw Kennis’s silhouette as he walked out from behind a tree in front of us, and his expression turned bitter.

Ignoring his face, Kennis opened his mouth again.

“If you go about fifty meck farther this way, there are two large boulders leaning against each other. The cave between them is the thieves’ den. What you are looking for is probably there.”

“The thieves’ den? Not your den?”

“I am not going to be a thief anymore, so it is the thieves’ den. I am just an ordinary person now. One who used to be a thief.”

At Kennis’s words, Rick furrowed his brow and opened his mouth again.

“What kind of logic is that?! You stop stealing, so you are no longer a thief?”

“Am I not?”

“No!”

“Be quiet. I hear something.”

Rene simply shut their mouths and began listening to the sounds around her with both hands placed near her ears.

She kept her eyes closed and maintained a listening posture as she opened her mouth.

“I hear screams. Women’s screams. And curses too. Ah? This is bad! Hurry. This is not ordinary!”

Rene immediately lowered her hands and ran forward.

Rick, who had been growling at Kennis behind her, drew his longsword and immediately followed after her.

Seeing them run, I was about to run forward as well, but a voice calling from behind made me turn my head back.

It was Kennis.

“Wait! Hey, you. You said your name was Han, right?”

“What about it?”

“I would like to borrow that sword of yours.”

At his words, I lifted the sword fastened at my waist.

It was the one I had taken from the man who had tried to stab my stomach earlier. I had put it on because I liked how it could cut through another sword.

I unfastened it and threw it to him. When Kennis caught the sword in one go, he looked at me with a dazed face and said,

“What kind of man just hands it over because someone asks?”

“Did you not ask for it? But why the sword? Are you going to fight too?”

I did not put any particular meaning into it, but Kennis gave a small laugh and nodded.

“That is some confidence. Anyway, this is urgent, so let us split up here.”

“What?”

Kennis looked at my face and slung the sword over his shoulder.

“Do not glare like that. I have a plan.”

Leaving those words behind, he immediately ran between the trees.

I considered chasing after him, tripping him, and asking him why he was doing that, but instead I simply turned around and hurriedly ran toward where Rene had gone.

After running some distance, I found Rene and Rick hiding behind suitable trees.

When Rene saw me approach, she placed a finger to her lips and gestured for me to be quiet.

Seeing me sit behind her, she whispered quietly.

“Why were you so late?”

“Something came up for a moment. So how is it?”

At my words, Rene pointed behind the tree with her finger, and I drew the dagger fastened at my waist, held it outside, and turned the blade to look at the situation.

Just as Kennis had said, there was a small cave where two large boulders leaned against each other, and two sentries stood in front of it.

On top of that, campfires were burning here and there, so approaching directly would be quite difficult.

Also, from inside the cave came firelight, shouting, and curses, and occasionally the screams of women could be heard as well.

At that sound, Rick’s face grew terribly flushed, but in a situation where hostages were involved, he did not commit the foolishness of bravely charging into enemy territory. He waited calmly.

I placed the dagger back behind my waist and said to Rene,

“Dear, can you use something like Sandman or a Sleep spell?”

“As I said, I cannot use magic, but I can call a spirit. I will try. But this place is enclosed by a magic circle, so the amount of time a spirit can remain is extremely short. So we have to finish this in one go. Mr. Rick? When I give the signal, run in with Han and make sure they cannot make a sound.”

“Understood.”

Rick nodded as if he had been waiting for that.

Rene rose from her seat, stood with her back against a tree, clasped both hands together, and bowed her head.

“Owner of the hourglass, who delights in peeking into dreams, my friend, please watch the dreams of those weary with fatigue here with me now.”

As soon as her words ended, the sentries standing on either side of the cave began yawning and nodding off.

And at that moment, Rene opened her eyes and cried out softly.

“Now. Go!”

Rick and I ran almost at the same time.

I went right, Rick went left.

The branches and bushes in front of me blocked my way, but I ignored them and ran.

And I was able to make it down to where the campfire was.

Dodging between the campfires, I ran forward and smiled brightly at the man just waking from his drowsiness.

As confusion and shock spread across the man’s face, I was already standing in front of him. With a quick movement, I grabbed his neck, pulled him forward, and drove my knee up into his stomach.

THUD!

“Krr….”

The man collapsed as he was, and I grabbed him by the nape of the neck and leaned him against the wall.

At that moment, I heard a strange sound from beside me, so I turned my head and saw Rick carrying out Rene’s words in a rather horrific way.

He stabbed his main-gauche into the man’s throat to keep him from making a sound, then mercilessly drove his longsword into the back of the man as he lost consciousness and collapsed.

After stabbing his sword in two or three times, Rick let out one breath, roughly dragged the corpse into the darkness beside him, then turned his head, looked at me, and raised his thumb.

He shows no mercy.

In any case, after dealing with the sentry, I drew the dagger from my waist again and peered into the mine.

Rick, who had been watching me from beside me, wiped the bloodstained main-gauche on his trousers, then took the same posture as I did.

And soon, he wore the same dumbfounded expression as me.

“They went that way! Catch them!”

“Kyaaah! You bastards! At least shave before charging at me! Kyaa! Where do you think you are touching?!”

THUD! WHACK, WHACK!

“Krrgh?!”

There were about five men inside the cave.

Each of them had their eyes blazing as they ran around trying to catch two women.

One woman was a red-haired young lady who seemed to be in her early twenties, and the other was a woman who seemed to be in her late twenties to early thirties, with brown hair braided neatly upward.

The red-haired young lady had struck a man’s jaw with a frying pan rolling on the ground and was panting angrily.

The brown-haired woman lifted a vase engraved with pretty patterns and threw it down onto the head of the man clinging to her leg.

CRASH?!

“Krrrgh?!”

“Kate! Hurry over here! Hey, you filthy bastards! Five men going after two women, and you still call yourselves men?!”

At that, a dirty-bearded man who was breathing hard and wiping the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth with his hand opened his mouth with a grin.

“I like women who struggle this much.”

At his strongly perverted smile, the woman named Kate and the young lady presumed to be Chelsia wore expressions that said chills were running over their skin.

The men raised both hands with greasy smiles and began approaching them again.

At that, the brown-haired woman called Kate lifted a large vase and threatened to throw it if they came closer as she shouted desperately.

“I am a married woman with a child!”

“For a married woman, you have quite the figure. Your face is pretty too. Hey, ladies? Why not give up now? Your companions will all be here soon too. Kuhuhuhu! Today really is a lucky day….”

CRASH!

The young lady named Kate threw the vase she was holding at the man, and the dirty-bearded man collapsed with his face covered in blood.

But none of them tried to look after him.

They merely laughed more viciously and approached the women.

Uh-oh, this is going to become serious.

Should we go in now?

I turned my head and looked at Rick, and Rick waved his hand.

‘Wait.’

‘Why?’

‘If we rush in like this, it will turn into a hostage situation. If Miss Kate and Chelsia back away a little farther, then we will go in.’

I roughly interpreted his hand gestures that way.

Certainly, the inside of the mine was wide and extended far backward, so if the distance between the women and the men grew by more than two meck, it seemed we might be able to do something.

Accepting his opinion, I decided to watch their movements for a while.

When I turned my head, Rene was circling around and coming down without being noticed.

Dear, hurry.

While I was looking at Rene, another scream rang out, and I checked the situation inside again with the dagger.

Chelsia threw the frying pan at the face of the man slowly approaching her, but the man gave a small laugh, snatched it away, and shoved Chelsia backward.

She fell roughly onto the ground.

“Ah!”

“Chelsia?! Are you all right?”

“Ugh, I am fine. Damn it! Where is that bastard Troy, and what is he doing?!”

“Troy? Ahh, is that bodyguard your boyfriend? Sorry, but that friend is probably no longer among the living. Hehehe~”

Chelsia bared her teeth and glared at them, but all that flew back at her was the men’s mockery.

“Oh, how scary?! My knees are shaking.”

“Hehehe~”

“Hey, hey, stop that and hurry up and catch them. The others will arrive soon, and if they find out we slipped away while everyone was working, they will try to kill us. Let us hurry up and finish this, then take one round through the forest and come back. Then they will not know.”

At one man’s words, the men burned with fighting spirit again as they approached the women.

Chelsia bared her teeth and crawled backward little by little.

As the men approached, Kate sat on the ground with a deathly pale face and shouted at them.

“Wh-What are you going to do after catching us?!”

At that moment, the men’s movements stopped, and silence flowed through the long cave.

A moment later, the men shook their shoulders as they looked down at her, then burst into explosive laughter.

“Pahahahaha~!!”

“Hahahahaha~ Ah, hah, hah~ hehehehe!”

“Hehehehehe~ Wh-What are we going to do? What… pff!? Ahahahahaha!”

One man leaned his head against a support beam in the mine tunnel and laughed, while another knocked his head against the dirt wall as he snickered.

After laughing for quite some time, one of the men looked down at the terrified women and opened his mouth.

“Kuhuhuhu~ Are you asking because you do not know, married lady? Then I will teach you. It is very simple. First, we catch you and have some fun. Then tomorrow, you will be sold to a brothel in another city. That is the arrangement. How is it? Easy to understand, is it not?”

“Arrangement with what bastard?!”

It was Chelsia’s shout.

At that, the man shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.

“With the mayor of your village. You are famous dancers in the village, are you not? So you often leave to perform in other villages, correct? We were aiming for that moment. Now, are you curious about anything else? If not, I would like to pounce on you now.”

“That damned bald old geezer!”

Chelsia said that and struggled as she crawled backward, while Kate sat there with a deathly pale face, trembling as she looked up at the men approaching her.

“Kate! Get a hold of yourself! Kate!”

“I, I have a man I love….”

“Hehehe! We do not care about that, married lady.”

Kate barely managed to speak with a trembling jaw, but the men laughed viciously and slowly approached.

I hurriedly turned my head.

Rick was almost on the verge of exploding, so I could no longer trust his judgment.

I had no choice but to solve this my way.

The young ladies are sitting down, so if I do this well….

BANG! RUMBLE!

“Waagh?! Cough, cough! Wh-What is that?!”

“Kyaaah! Cough, cough! K-Kate! Uwegh, cough! Cough, cough~”

Suddenly, along with the sound of something collapsing, the confused voices and coughing of the young ladies and the men rang out.

When I hurriedly turned around, a cloud of dust filled the inside of the mine tunnel.

What is this?!

At that moment, Rick, who had been checking inside from the opposite side, ran into the cave, and I followed behind him.

“Cough, cough?! Wh-What is this?! Huh? Who are you… Krrraaagh!!”

“Uagh! Jack! Look, Jack got hit!”

“Where? Where?!”

Rick and I, who had been following behind him, looked at each other, then turned our heads forward with startled faces.

Was someone there?

Could it be Chelsia?

But it was not Chelsia.

The wall of the mine tunnel ahead had completely collapsed.

Through the thick cloud of dust, a man with a hood wrapped around his face stood holding a sword dripping with blood.

The man raised his sword.

The three bandits also drew swords from their waists or backs with stiff faces.

At that moment, the hooded man slowly opened his mouth.

“One for each of us.”

It was the voice of someone I knew.

After hearing his words, Rick grinned and raised his main-gauche and longsword.

“I am fine with two. I will kill all of you, you bastards!”

“Wh-What? Behind us too! Krrgh?!”

One man who turned his head at Rick’s voice from behind had his chest stabbed by the hooded man and collapsed while coughing blood.

Rick charged at the two men who were flustered.

I had no desire to stop their fight, so I simply wore a bitter expression and walked out of the mine tunnel.

At the entrance to the cave, Rene stood straight with her eyes wide open, quietly watching the bloodshed unfolding behind me.

I slowly approached her and embraced her.

Rene’s voice reached my ear.

“Why are you not stopping them?”

“It is a fight between humans. It is not a fight between humans and another race, but a fight between humans and humans, so I cannot stop it.

When Aiarunit tried to kill humans, I stopped him. When Narsh and the Lizard Men fought, I tried to stop them. If they had fought like that, we would have been hated by them.

So I stopped them. But this fight is one where they hate each other, and it is not something that can be resolved by stopping it. So I turned my back. Do you hate me for that?”

At that, Rene, who had been standing stiffly like a doll, relaxed her body, wrapped her arms around my back, and pulled me close.

Then she brought her cheek close to mine.

Her cheek was cold, but after a little time passed, I slowly began to feel warmth from it.

“I do not hate you. Because that is your justice. I love you, dear.”

“Thank you, Rene.”