Chapter 357: The Former Physical Abilities

I stripped all the clothes off the men and tied them up with Mythril threads. If I bound them with these threads, Cortina would be able to tell immediately whose deed it was.

Also, I realized it after stripping them but turned out that they were just wearing regular soldier’s clothes. They weren’t wearing knights’ clothes, so they were probably just underlings of some knight.

“Which means, some noble is pulling the strings, after all. Maxwell will have it tough.”

The reason I stripped all three was that I felt it’d be unfair if I only did it to one of them.

While I was stripping them, a small bag fell down with a heavy sound. Opening it, it was filled with some gold coins.

“It’s about an average government official’s monthly salary’s worth, huh. Getting into this mess for just that, what a failure on their part.”

With three gold coins, an average family could live for a month. On light counting, there were around ten of them in this bag now.

It was an amount that you couldn’t really say would be worth sacrificing your future for.

“Maybe they would’ve had some saving grace if they tried spending more money and actually negotiated.”

That said, it was obvious that Michelle would straight up refuse, failing to properly measure the monetary value.

There was also a piece of paper inside the bag.

“Hmm, is this… a written pledge?”

On it, there was written a guarantee that if they managed to catch Michelle, they would get double the payment on top of knighthood.

As for the writer of that pledge was…

“Lichtenberg. This guy again?”

The same noble that got in the way of Cortina’s appeal for reinforcements. He was a noble connected to former royalty just like Maxwell, and ranked higher than Yowi as a Marquis.

Due to his superior lineage, he caused problems everywhere he butted in.

“He’s straight-up evil at this point. I’ve not forgiven him for getting in Tina’s way, either.”

I couldn’t forgive his harassment towards Cortina, sure, but now that he directly harmed Michelle, I wouldn’t be turning a blind eye.

The reason he tried to secure Michelle’s parents was probably so that even if Michelle became his underling, he still needed a guarantee so she wouldn’t betray him.

“If I remember correctly, Lichtenberg’s mansion was… Right next to the royal caste, huh.”

I crushed the paper and threw it aside.

This paper would become proof of crime on its own. However, that alone wouldn’t cut it.

“Given his lineage, this wouldn’t amount to a serious punishment.”

There was a possibility that a great noble like him wouldn’t be punished gravely for messing with some commoners. Rather, that possibility was the most likely one.

Maxwell was keeping him in check, but in the end, he was an old man who had left the royalty and even the bonds of nobility.

He had influence as one of the Six Heroes, but he still couldn’t excessively interfere in the affairs of the kingdom’s authorities.

“In that case…”

The me of my previous life was exactly the person who dealt with these types of people without mercy. I’ll have this one experience how scary I can be.

There was no knowing when the hut would be found if I left it like that, so I launched a beacon on the roof. Maxwell who Michelle should’ve contacted should realize it when he sees it.

I also cast Cure Light on Uncle as an emergency treatment. His life should no longer be in any danger now.

I also retrieved my uniform that I left on the roof and rushed back to Maxwell’s mansion.

The fact that I appeared also meant that Nicole would disappear. I needed his power to make my story more convincing.

Strengthening myself with Enchant and the thread manipulation, I dashed through the forest like the wind.

I ran to the capital in a straight line, jumping over the tall walls using the threads in one go.

“…I can’t believe this.”

I did think that I would be able to do it, but I didn’t expect that it would be this easy. Even my earlier speed in the forest was abnormal.

I ended up getting used to Nicole’s powerless body, so strengthening my tough body of the previous life made my abilities skyrocket to a shocking degree.

My old body was also relatively powerless, but compared to Nicole’s body, it was like night and day.

I had a weak but noble body, but the strengthening made me reach a whole new domain. The original me would have never managed jumping over the wall that was at least ten meters tall so easily.

“At this rate, I bet I could’ve climbed up even without the threads, huh?”

My current gauntlets had claws for climbing the walls. With those, I could support my weight even without the threads.

And with my current agility… I just needed to get a foothold for an instant to jump to the next one. If I repeated that, I could probably jump over this wall.

“Can my body really handle this properly?”

With this body and ability, I felt like I could even lead Lyell around by the nose. He certainly boasted of unparalleled toughness, but I feel like I could output speeds that could ignore that.

As I was preoccupied with those thoughts… I decided to change my thinking.

“This is no time for that.”

This time, I hung the thread over the wall and dropped down. If I jumped down as is, even my current body would take damage. Thus, I used the thread to decelerate before hitting the ground, achieving a safe landing.

Fortunately, no one seemed to have seen me. Or rather, I acted after confirming that there was no one around.

Following that, I jumped and kicked off the wall of a house, landing on the roof of the opposite one. Then, I continued along the rooftops towards Maxwell’s mansion.

I was clearly faster than I was in my previous life. Or rather, I might have already exceeded the territory of a human.

It was daytime, but there weren’t even any passersby who managed to see me. Moreover, when I jumped from roof to roof, I easily leaped over 10 meters distances.

“I… Really need to get used to these abilities by nightfall.”

The Polymorph spell should last until around dawn. With that much time on my hands, I should easily manage to sneak into Lichtenberg’s mansion and punish him.

Without realizing it, a villainous smile appeared on my face due to the evolution of my abilities.

Now, let me use this new strength against that noble who doesn’t know his place.