Chapter 34 (1/2)

(In the end, his ability is only to tame a Griffon. Though there’s a bow aimed at him, he can’t even feel the blood lust. Really, Al worries too much.)

Completing her preparations to shoot at any time, she turned her eyes to Seryl, who was on the roof of the building opposite.

Catching Sunyi’s glance, Seryl gave a small nod. Al and Murgas signaled that they were ready as well.

(Rookie-chan, you can only have a grudge against yourself for owning a rare magic item you don’t deserve. We’ll sell off the item box to provide for our living……right!）

Holding her breath, she took aim and released the arrow from her hands, the arrow shot from the bow cut through the air, the next moment it tore towards the target who seemed to be resting. As it hit the body, Rei fell to the ground without a sound.

「Right, everyone attack!」

Seryl’s voice echoed at the same time. At that voice, Al and Murgas jumped out from the darkness with their bastard sword and dagger. Seryl also jumped from the roof, casually, holding a long sword and shield.

While checking the states of her three companions, Sunyi drew her bow again in case of an unforeseen event.

The moment the arrow aimed at him a distance away was fired, Rei’s eyes captured the arrow.

Though he thought of evading it or cutting it down with the Death Scythe if it was aimed for his head, the arrow was targeted at his body. It was probably aimed there as they judged it would be easier to target. Though the arrow shot at his right side was blocked by the Dragon Robe, he pretended to fall to the ground.

The next moment, he heard Seryl’s voice from the top of the opposite building as well as the sounds of two more people. Including Seryl, the footsteps of 3 people approached him.

(According to the information from Hobbes and Elk, Dark Night’s Star should be a party of 4. An archer, 2 warriors and a thief. In this case, the archer is the most troublesome as it’s a long range attacker, fortunately, it doesn’t have enough power to pierce the Dragon Robe. The next most troublesome would be the thief as he can hide in the dark.

While listening to the three footsteps coming closer to him, he looked for the thief’s position.

There was a slight difference in footsteps between a warrior and thief due to the weight of the equipment they carried. He listened.

(Left, is it?)

Seryl was at the front. Judging from the foot steps and speed, the other warrior of Dark Night’s Star who wore heavier equipment, Al, was at the right. He firmly gripped the Death Scythe that he had held onto as he had fallen.

Naturally, there was a difference in speed between a warrior and a thief, the first to reach him was Murgas who wore light armour, the thief of Dark Night’s Star.

「Murgas, how is it?　Was he killed neatly with Sunyi’s arrow?」

Seryl’s voice was a bit further away. Rei heard the footsteps near slowly.

「Wait a moment big sis. I’ll check now.」

Hehe, he grinned and smiled in his heart as he heard the footsteps approach.

Originally, the best way to check if the other party was alive or dead would be to throw a stone or dagger at it to see the reaction. In fact, if they did throw a stone or dagger at his head, he wouldn’t be able to counterattack immediately, but maybe Murgas didn’t have a spare weapon, or maybe he found it too troublesome, he just approached Rei cautiously. And……

(Now!)

Rei judged that Murgas had entered his attack range and acted quickly. He grasped the Death Scythe that had fallen to the ground when he fell and made a sweeping attack. Because he had attacked without putting in any magic power, his attack wasn’t anticipated. The Death Scythe cut through the flesh with ease and the bone with a bit of pressure, cutting off both of Murgas’s ankles.

「……Eh?　Ah, ah, ah……Gyaaaaaaaaa~!　Ah, my legs, my feet are, aaahh~!」

For an instant, he couldn’t believe he was attacked. Speaking while seemingly preoccupied, Murgas collapsed to the ground as he couldn’t stand without both ankles. He screamed while lying on the ground as the intense pain hit him a few seconds after the attack.

「Tch, he’s still alive. Al, let’s go. This is his final resistance anyway. Sunyi, cover us with your bow!」

Seryl had thought that the only magic item Rei had was the item box, Misty Ring. The Dragon Robe that he usually wore, even if you searched the entire Mireana Kingdom……no, not even the entirety of Elgin would have a magic item of this high quality, therefore, she thought that his attack on Murgas was a desperate attack of the verge on death after receiving a mortal wound from Sunyi’s arrow.

However, maybe that wasn’t unreasonable. After all, the Dragon Robe was made by Zepairu’s organization, in other words, it’s concealment effect was given by the greatest Alchemist of that time, Esta Nord. Others could not see its true value. At the frontier, it would be an impossible event for a rank C adventurer to see through it.

TLN: Okay, so it turns out the concealment effect of the Dragon Robe is to hide the fact that it’s a magic item. Note also appended to when it was first described.

While thinking of this in a corner of his mind, Rei sprung up, using the momentum from the attack that cut Murgas’ ankles. He went closer to Murgas who was rolling on the ground crying unsightly and struck with the Death Scythe in a scooping motion, cutting him in two.

「Gah~!」

He raised a small scream as his internal organs such as his stomach and intestines spilled onto the ground, the light faded from Murgas’ eyes. Seeing the ankles, still in their shoes further ahead, a wry smile floated onto his face for a moment.

TLN: Well, I didn’t expect Rei to have a brutal streak.

(I don’t have any particular guilt even though I killed a person, it seems. Well, I’m thankful given the present situation.)

「Murgas!?　Tch, he’s still okay even though the arrows hit!　Al, we’ll do it at once!」

「Big sis!? We should retreat!」

「Don’t say stupid things!　It has already begun. Since it’s become like this, we have to kill the rookie, if that guy gets away, the guild will give us a bounty. Be prepared for that!」

「……Shit, I understand!」

Matching their timing, the two people swung their swords from the left and right. Rei judged that Seryl, the leader of Dark Star, was more formidable and decided to aim for Al first to decrease the number of enemies. With the handle of the Death Scythe, he swept up some of Murgas’ organs which were scattered around and flicked them at Al.

「Tch!」

Al was sweeping his bastard sword from the side at that moment but was blinded by Murgas’ organs coming at his face and evaded. However……

「Fool!　You’re careless!」

Seryls voice sounded through the area, but it was too late. For a bastard sword, its high power lay with its weight, However, at the same time, it was difficult to maneuver. For example, as when someone got close, as Rei did now.

As Al swung the bastard sword, he suddenly felt a wind and turned his eyes, the small figure of Rei and his robe was no longer at where he was before.

「Al, your chest!」

Seryl set her long sword towards Al while shouting, but it was too late. The huge scythe like the scythe of the Grim Reaper was about to swing down and take Al’s life.

(Shit, big sis won’t make it in time. My sword isn’t enough……this, ending up in a place like this!)

Because of the possibility of his own death approaching him, Al’s head spun, he asked himself about the meaning of the life he had lived, regretting being cajoled by Seryl into attacking Rei……