Chapter 175
The story continues off the page
The Dare in the Back Room
Two academy girls, one lethal measure, and your slate paying for it
It wasn't difficult to find the Croce Trading Company branch.
We asked for directions at a tavern that stayed open late, and the attendant kindly told us the way.
Raven's western commercial district.
Following the avenue that crossed the city, we soon arrived at a compound enclosed by high walls.
A three-story main building, with several warehouses behind it.
Above the main gate hung two crossed keys, forming a cross.
“This looks like the place.”
Shabel alternated between checking the request form and the sign.
I clung to the wall and peeked inside.
Even though it was deep into the night, the grounds were brightly lit.
Workers were loading wooden crates onto carriages, while a sizable number of armed mercenaries had gathered in one corner of the yard.
It didn't look like they were simply wrapping up the day.
I finished my scan and climbed down from the wall.
“What do you see?”
“They're loading cargo onto the carriages. They have quite a few escorts as well.”
“Are they planning to leave at this hour?”
“Probably.”
Rufus had said it had been three days since he betrayed Veronica and left.
If the Croce Trading Company had realized the value of the ledger, it would be safer to move it to headquarters before outsiders could make a move.
“What should we do?”
“The best option would be to sneak in and extract Rufus.”
“How do you know where he is?”
“That's what makes the best option difficult. So people usually settle for the next best thing.”
Shabel narrowed her eyes.
“……Then what's the second-best option?”
“We just smash the place to pieces.”
“Those options are worlds apart.”
“It's not as though we can walk through the front gate and ask, ‘Do you happen to know where Mr. Rufus is?’”
“Th-that's true, but…… In any case, we can't just smash everything.”
It seemed the Hero who upheld justice wasn't fond of violent methods.
Well, I didn't particularly want to cause a commotion either. The city guards might get involved.
That left us with only one option.
“Let's wait until they come out.”
“You mean we'll follow them if they leave?”
“Merchants are frequently attacked by bandits, after all.”
***
-Clatter.
The carriage jolted violently as it passed over a sunken stretch of road.
Rufus, who was riding in the carriage's cargo bed, hugged the leather bag in his arms even more tightly.
He glanced back at the road they had traveled.
Pitch-black darkness.
Just looking at it made him anxious.
“Can't you go a little faster?”
“Can't you see how dark the road is? If the carriage overturns, are you going to take responsibility?”
“Um……”
Faced with the driver's rough tone, Rufus couldn't argue and clamped his mouth shut.
The carriage was already traveling fast enough that it was difficult to believe they were on a road at night.
Even so, it felt endlessly slow to Rufus.
Even after leaving Milton, where the Golden Goose was located, and getting out of Raven, he still couldn't feel at ease.
That was how intense the pressure from the woman called Veronica had been.
‘Maybe I shouldn't have done it.’
As regret flashed through him, Rufus shook his head vigorously.
No, she was the one at fault.
If Veronica had treated him properly in the first place, he would never have betrayed her.
Had it been a hundred gold coins?
Rufus thought that even this fell short of the share he should have received.
Without him, Veronica couldn't have been running so many businesses.
Therefore, it wasn't theft.
He had merely taken the compensation he had never been paid.
Rufus looked down at the leather bag in his arms.
Inside the bag was the ledger of Veronica's businesses.
All he had to do was reach the Croce Trading Company's headquarters and hand it over.
Once he received the promised money and left, Veronica wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
Rufus hugged the bag more tightly, steeling his resolve again and again.
That was when it happened.
-Whoosh.
A wind blew from somewhere, scattering his hair.
Just as Rufus turned his head in puzzlement—
-Whish!
With a sharp sound of something slicing through the air, the canopy covering the carriage was ripped to shreds.
“Eek?!”
His view suddenly opened wide, and the icy moonlight of the night sky poured down.
Rufus flattened himself against the floor while clutching the bag.
“W-what?”
“We're under attack!”
A powerful whirlwind swept through the area. Blinded by the swirling dust, the mercenaries shouted without even being able to open their eyes.
The gust threw their ranks into disarray.
Just as the mercenaries hurriedly tightened their grips on their weapons and tried to reform their lines—
“Above!”
At someone's shout, every mercenary looked up into the sky.
A figure tightly wrapped in a robe floated in midair with their back to the moon.
The hem of the robe rippled in the fierce wind.
Between the folds, the long shaft of a spear was revealed, gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
“Who goes there!”
“……”
The figure wearing the robe did not answer.
Only two silver eyes glimmered faintly through the gap in the hood concealing the figure's face.
The mercenaries exchanged glances.
One man raised his bow, and the others followed suit, nocking arrows.
“Fire!”
The bowstrings snapped in unison.
Fifteen or so arrows shot toward the sky.
The black spear moved within the robe.
When the spearpoint drew a circle in the air, the wind blew once more.
The arrows slicing through the sky crumpled helplessly before they could even touch her.
“A mage?”
“What kind of mage uses a spear?”
“But she's floating in midair!”
“Is this really the time to argue about that?!”
During that brief instant while the mercenaries shouted and argued among themselves—
The robed figure suspended in midair turned the spearpoint downward.
And then dropped.
-KABOOM!
The black figure plunged straight into the center of the formation.
The instant the spear struck the ground, wind exploded outward in every direction.
“Aaaah?!”
“Gueegh!”
The mercenaries shot into the air like leaves in an autumn wind before flying in every direction.
Trees toppled, and carriages overturned.
Crates tumbled down and shattered, spilling their contents across the road.
“Urgh……”
The impact left no one able to regain their footing.
The wind subsided, but dust still blanketed the convoy.
The mercenaries' groans and the cries of startled horses rang out from all around.
“Ghk….”
One mercenary pinned beneath an overturned carriage struggled to pull himself free.
Clutching his aching back, he rose and surveyed the surroundings through his heavily blurred vision.
“……Where did they go?”
In the center of the formation, where the spear had struck only moments before—
Only a deep gouge remained in the ground.
The robed assailant radiating overwhelming menace was nowhere to be seen.
“Captain, the attacker has disappeared! We can't see them anywhere!”
“Don't let your guard down! They're an elusive attacker! We don't know where they'll appear next! Reform the lines!”
At the captain's command, the mercenaries who had been knocked down hurriedly got back to their feet.
They picked up their dropped weapons and used the broken carriages and crates as cover while spreading out into a defensive formation.
“……”
The mercenaries breathed heavily as they watched the pitch-black forest and the road ahead.
The tension was so thick that even the sound of swallowing seemed loud.
One second, two seconds.
They stood guard like that for a full minute.
No matter how long they waited, there was no sign of another attack.
Only the ordinary wind of the forest blew, not another fierce gust.
“What was that……?”
“Did they really leave?”
The mercenaries began exchanging bewildered looks and murmuring among themselves.
“What should we do, Captain?”
“…How many casualties?”
“No deaths. Everyone suffered only minor bruises.”
“Not a single one?”
“Yes.”
“……”
The mercenary captain furrowed his brow.
“First, have everyone who's in good condition check the cargo. Identify the damaged goods and reform the formation.”
“Yes, Captain!”
The mercenaries scattered in every direction and busily began the cleanup.
The mercenary captain surveyed the wreckage, deep in thought.
‘What on earth was the attacker's objective?’
The attacker was a monster capable of flying and conjuring storms.
Someone with that level of power could have wiped out the entire escort without difficulty.
Yet there wasn't a single casualty. It was difficult to explain that as mere luck.
The attacker had deliberately restrained their power.
‘Why?’
If they hadn't intended to kill them, then fighting them hadn't been the objective from the start.
If the attack wasn't meant to start a fight, then why had they attacked at all?
To warn the Croce Trading Company?
Or simply to show off their strength?
A spark suddenly flashed through his frozen thoughts.
‘No way……!’
It was at that very moment that the mercenary captain hurriedly turned around.
“C-Captain!”
A subordinate who had gone to the carriage shouted urgently, his face drained of color.
“This is bad! Rufus is gone!”
The mercenary captain strode over and inspected the cargo carriage with its canopy torn away.
The accountant who, only moments ago, had been trembling as he hugged the bag with all his might was nowhere to be seen.
“D-Damn it…!”
In the brief moment when the storm raged and passed—
The attacker had accomplished their objective and vanished with the wind.
***
I ran across the forest path.
Rufus was slung over one shoulder, and in my other hand I carried the leather bag he had been clutching as though his life depended on it.
“S-save me! I'm falling! I'm going to fall!”
“You're not falling.”
“How am I supposed to believe that when you're shaking me this much?”
“If you fall, I'll just pick you up again. Stop whining. If you keep thrashing around, I'll let go, so stay still.”
Only then did Rufus stop struggling.
Of course, he continued talking noisily after that.
He kept asking if Veronica had sent me, insisting that he had done nothing wrong, and claiming that she was the one at fault.
It wasn't anything I needed to listen to.
I tuned out most of his voice and slowed down once I judged that we had put enough distance between us.
There wasn't a single pursuer. That was thanks to Shabel drawing their attention properly.
“How much did that woman pay you? Just name your price. I'll give you more—please let me go!”
“That's for my master to decide, not me.”
“Master……?”
“There you are.”
The leaves above my head shook violently.
The wind spiraled down.
When I looked up, Shabel, wrapped in a robe, emerged from between the trees and slowly descended.
“Did you bring him back safely?”
“As you can see.”
Shabel looked at Rufus draped over my shoulder.
“Is this Mr. Rufus?”
“It seems so.”
“What do you mean, ‘it seems so’?”
“He hasn't denied being Rufus.”
“I-I'm not actually Rufus!”
Rufus shouted desperately.
“There's no need to take his word for it. We can take him to Veronica and confirm whether he's Rufus.”
I held up the bag in my hand. Shabel nodded when she saw it.
“Now let's go settle the overdue account. Veronica is waiting with bated breath.”