Chapter 148
"Damn it! Where'd they go!"
About five minutes after the guild adventurers left .
We concealed ourselves again and came close to where the city ruler's underlings were .
They're still looking for us .
We could have ambushed and defeated them here . . . but it'd be bad if it was all a misunderstanding .
I should confirm their stance first .
"Alright, I'm gonna cancel the concealment . Don't bring out your weapon just yet, but don't let your guard down either!"
"""YES!"""
I showed myself up in front of the underlings .
And then . . . .
"Excuse me . We seem to have gotten lost . . . "
I pretend to be lost and asked him the way .
With my guard up of course .
I can make a counterattack if they do attack me, I've positioned myself to lop off their heads all at once in less than three seconds if needed .
Now then, how will they react . . . .
"Aa . Your inn is that way . "
The city ruler's underlings looked a bit perplexed to see us suddenly showing up, but they immediately pointed to a direction .
The direction they gave is correct for sure .
We never said our inn's name out, so they probably have investigated our lodging place .
. . . Well, simply knowing the location doesn't mean that raiding it will be a success .
"Thank you very much . "
We thanked them, turn our back on the underlings and began to walk to the direction they told us .
I'm walking in the back most . I should look like an easy target from their perspective .
The next moment--
"Don't move . "
The underling put his hands on my neck and pointed a knife on it .
It really comes to this huh .
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"Listen to what we say if you don't want this guy killed . "
The underling who's caught me looks over the girls after saying that .
He really does not seem wary of me .
They really think I'm a healer huh . . . .
Well, letting them operate with the misunderstanding is convenient for us, so let's let them keep it .
It'd make things far easier if they targeted me instead of the girls .
"Follow us . "
Right when the underling said that and tried to drag me with him . . . I activated telepathy magic . And tell Iris .
『Iris, with bare hand, you hear me . 』
『Yes!』
Iris readied her fist and thrust it at us .
"You . . . "
The underling swings a knife toward my hand .
He's probably not aiming for my neck to avoid killing me .
You can't take a corpse hostage after all .
Well--either way, it's pointless .
I enveloped my whole body with defensive magic right when the knife was swung down .
Putting up a magical defensive wall while taking care not to make them notice it is a bit troublesome . . . . But there's no need for that this time .
Because any shred of oddness they felt would be blown away by Iris's fist .
"You think you can win against us with a fist--wha?"
One of the underlings caught Iris's fist with a sword .
However, of course the blade couldn't get through it .
Thus, all of the city ruler's underlings got blown away just like that .
Well, I also got rolled up in it though .
" . . . Alright, now every one of them has been knocked out . "
I slipped in during the confusion and shot Faint-inducing magic on all of them .
With this, we've evaded their ambush with the misunderstanding intact .
"You . . . knocked them out?"
"Yeah . It's a waste to kill them . "
As I said that, I put several magic into the underlings' body .
We're going to let them go after putting these in .
"Alright, that'll do . "
After I was done inserting the magic .
I said that as I stood up .
"A magic to detect their position . . . right?"
Ruli who saw the augmented magic said that .
She's generally correct .
"Yeah . Half of it . "
"Half?"
"Yeah . This magic also has an effect to detect demons . If my guess is right, demons don't have anything to do with the matter this time, but . . . just in case . "
I have surmised that demons only played a part in the previous city ruler's demise .
But it's not a bad idea to check it out while also watching the current ruler's moves .
This kind of spell is plain but convenient .
◇
And then, about a week after we dealt with the underlings .
A messenger who carries a letter from the king has arrived at our place .