Legend

After receiving information that the people who had attacked Essetus and Nakuto had gone to the Marschel family residence, Elena and the rest got ready to make their next move.

……But, before that, after leaving the shack, Elena brought Vihera a short distance away.

「What’s wrong? I don’t really like the smell over here.」

Elena glanced at Vihera, who told her with dissatisfaction, and spoke.

「You know what I want to ask. You can’t tell me, as someone who loves to fight, that you didn’t notice that informant’s hatred.」

「I guess so. Well, for Serakant, oh, that’s the name of the informant, he has a lot of history with the Marschel family」

「History? He called Byune, Byune-sama, does that have anything to do with it?」

When they visited, he had spoken to Byune first and with affection. Because of that, even Elena could guess that they had some sort of relationship.

Normally, if they were to visit someone in a group, the first person the other party would look at would typically be herself, Vihera, or Set.

There was also the hatred for the Marschel family that he couldn’t hide.

Vihera nodded slightly at Elena’s words.

「Yes. Serakant was originally someone who served the Fraut family. He resigned from the Fraut family because they couldn’t afford to pay him…… However, it seems that Serakant himself didn’t care about the pay and wanted to stay by Byune’s side, but Byune herself refused to let him stay.」

「……I see. I understand why the old man, Serakant, would have a fondness for Byune. Then, what about the hatred? Why does he have such hatred towards the Marschel family……I mean, it’s not the kind of hatred an old man should have.」

Hearing Elena’s words, Vihera turned to look over at Byune, who was waiting for them a bit further away.

Although Byune was still expressionless as she stroked Set and Yellow, at first glance, it was a heartwarming scene.

However, the road that Byune walked could only be called a thorny one.

It was to the extent that a young girl, who used to be full of emotions, had stopped showing any.

「There’s a lot to be said about the Marschel family. ……That’s all I can say.」

For a moment, Vihera recalled the time she had asked Serakant about it several months ago.

She had been told that it was the Marschel family that had caused the Fraut family to fall the point of deciding whether to sell their mansion or not.

After Serakant had found out, he had started investigating the Marschel family. That was why this time, the connection between the Marschel family and the attackers had become apparent so quickly.

「Various things, huh? Will that be a burden to Byune?」

Seeing the face of someone who used to serve her family twist in hatred. Looking at her, Elena wondered if Byune felt that to be a burden

Elena voiced her question with some doubts, but what she received back was an unexpected smile.

「Fufu~, it seems you can only see Byune’s surface.」

Vihera said that as if she were the only one who understood Byune.

However, that wasn’t a mistake. In fact, Vihera could understand Byune intentions with just a few words.

「Did you think I’d party up with a nice ordinary girl for so long? Byune may hardly show any changes in expression. But deep down inside, she had strong emotions, regardless if it is positive of negative. That’s why I’m staying with her, isn’t it?」

「That’s……」

In Elena’s eyes, Byune didn’t seem to show that much emotion. That was why she kept quiet. It wasn’t something Elena could see right now.

「Well, I’m sure you’ll find out sooner or later. Rather, we should hurry up. Look, Essetus is looking at you as if he can’t stand it, you know?」

At Vihera’s words, Elena looked over as well and she could see that the others were eyeing her with irritation and impatience.

At first glance, they seemed to be irritated by the heat, but Elena knew she didn’t have the option to spend more time talking.

「……I understand. But remember. If Byune ever let’s her emotions run wild, I’ll make sure to stop her.」

「Eh? Well, you can do whatever you want I guess?」

Elena’s words were filled with determination, but all she got back from Vihera was a brief reply.

For a moment, she seemed to want to say something more, but in the end, they went back over to Rei without saying anything further.

「It was near here after all?」

Essetus muttered in disgust as they approached the location Serakant told them.

Currently, their group was close to the slums. ……Yes, it wasn’t far from the place where Essetus and Nakuto had been attacked.

As they got closer to entering the slums, Rei suddenly turned to Nakuto and called out to him.

「Do you know the exact location where you were attacked?」

「Hm? Ah, yes. Of course I remember, but……what about it?」

「Well, I don’t think the information that the informant called Serakant is wrong, or that he sold us out, but just in case.」

「Mm!」

At Rei’s words, Byune voiced her protest.

Though her expression didn’t change much, even Rei could tell that she was angry from her tone of voice.

She had the right to be angry because the information came from someone who had served her family, which was as good as saying that she had sold them out.

「Don’t be so angry, it’s just to be sure. Besides, the situation might have changed since Serakant got the information, right?」

「……So, what do you plan to do?」

When Nakuto asked Rei, who was trying to pacify Byune, Set gave a cry as if to say it was his turn.

「As you can see, Set is a Griffon and his five senses are much sharper than a human’s. In other words, he has a sharper sense of smell.」

「I see.」

The one who nodded was not Nakuto, but Elena, who had also been listening into their conversation.

She understood what Rei was thinking……in other words, Rei was planning to use Set’s newly acquired skill, Sense Enhancement – Smell.

Unlike other flashy skills like Fire Breath, skills such as Sense Enhancement – Smell, were less likely to be noticed by those around him.

「What? Why are you surprised Elena, aren’t you always with Rei?」

「No, it’s nothing. Rather, Rei, it would be better to hurry then. Aren’t we just wasting time right now?」

「You’re right. Set, please go to the site of the attack.」

「Guru~!」

At Rei’s words, Set let out a short cry, as if saying ‘leave it to me’.

The location was about 10 minutes walk away. Eventually, they arrived at a place covered in blood stains.

In the slums, violence wasn’t that uncommon. Naturally, it was common for blood to be found on the ground. Fortunately, the blood traces were mostly intact.

Of course, after several hours under the scorching sun, it had completely dried out. Even so, with Set’s sense of smell, it wasn’t difficult to track someone with that amount of blood.

「Gurururururu~!」

Set immediately activated his skill to improve his sense of smell.

Naturally, since it wasn’t a flashy skill, except for Rei, Elena, and Yellow, who was perched on Elena’s left shoulder to not get in Set’s way, it only looked like Set was giving a cry to encourage himself.

In any case, with his sense of smell improved by his skill, Set sniffed out several odours that were still around.

Especially strong was, of course, the smell of blood.

It was from the people who had been stabbed by Essetus spear or the ones who’s eyes had be slashed by Nakuto’s daggers.

The former had recovered using potions, but the blood they had bled couldn’t be ignored.

「How is it? Do you know where they ran to?」

「Guru~!」

Of course! Set seemed to say with a cry as he dashed forward and broke into a run to lead Rei and the others.

Their destination was naturally the slums.

「Hey, hurry up. You’ll be left behind by Set. We’re going to rescue your friend.」

「O-O-Oh right!」

Hearing Rei’s words, Essetus stepped into the slums.

He was followed by Nakuto and then the rest of the group.

(I don’t think they will try to attack us under these circumstances, but this is just in case.)

If it were just Essetus and Nakuto, they might manage, but addition to Vihera and Byune, who had beaten back the attackers badly, there was now also Rei, Elena, and Set. Under normal circumstances, there was no way they would attack in a situation where their strength had already fallen.

(As far as I’m concerned, if they attack us, it will just make it easier to obtain information, so I’d be more than happy.

Thinking about it, Rei glanced at his surroundings while running lightly.

Even those it’s summer……or because it’s summer, he could see people lying on the ground like corpses with no motivation.

Of course, those weren’t the only people, he could see a few small children running around and some people drunk from whatever they had managed to get to drink.

Among those people, especially those who were just talking with others, the looked rudely at the people who had entered the slums.

They must have thought of stripping everything off the bodies of those who entered their territory, or maybe even capture them to sell to slave traders after having their fun.

……But this time, their target wasn’t a good one.

The residents had mostly grown up in the slums and barely knew the names of monsters, but even so, they could instinctively sense how strong Set was as he ran in front of Rei and the others as some of them had been former adventurers.

The slum residents decided that they shouldn’t touch or get involved with Rei’s group. In fact, they should even avoid being seen and everyone disappeared from the streets one by one without anyone needing a signal.

Set might have been loved on the main streets, but here, he was nothing more than a symbol of fear.

「Guru~……」

He must have sensed the fearful gazes directed towards him. Set gave a sad cry.

However, the reason he didn’t stop chasing the trail was because he clearly understood what he needed to do.

They continued through the slums for another 10 minutes. Set suddenly stopped and turned a sharp gaze to a house about 300m away.

If it was on the main street, it could be described as dreary, but in the slums, it was a respectable residence.

「……They’re there.」

With Rei’s eyes, he could see several men watching out the windows of the building.

Their wariness must have been due to their failure in attack Essetus and Nakuto previously.

「-!?」

「Wait.」

Hearing Rei’s words, Nakuto grabbed Essetus by the neck and forcibly stopped him from reflexively rushing into the building.

「Hey, what are you doing! We have to hurry up and save Tivia!」

「That’s why you should calm down. Can’t you do something about the blood rushing to your head? It definitely could be the hideout for those who kidnapped Tivia. That’s why if you attack carelessly without thinking, there’s a high chance they will manage to escape.」

Although Essetus tried to refute Nakuto’s words without thinking, Nakuto cut him off before he could speak.

「More than anything else, each of the people who attacked us was at least as strong or stronger than us.」

「But, we injured a lot of them earlier! In that case!」

「Did you forget about the guy called Ogoru? He had a fairly high quality potion with him, didn’t he?」

「Then what should I do!」

Essetis yelled back at Nakuto without thinking, having had all his thoughts denied……but the next moment, a fist was swung down on his head.

It wasn’t just a fist either. It was Vihera’s fist, wrapped up in a gauntlet.

Even Nakuto raised his eyebrows imagining the pain at the dull sound.

「Gah, ahhhh……」

As for Essetus himself, he could only hold his head as he crouched down.

「As Nakuto said, calm down. In the first place, even you attack the building from here, if there’s a back door, they could just run out, you know?」

「That’s true. And, it wouldn’t be any good if those who were kidnapped, including Tivia, were just taken away. ……Let me and Set go around to the back. The rest attack of you match the timing and attack from the front. Be sure to be quick. If they take a hostage or something, we’ll be in a lot of trouble.」

After Rei said that, everyone discussed the plan to assault the building in a few minutes.