Chapter 1115: Hunting for Hideman

After handing the mysterious sword to Klimt, we went around rescuing anyone in trouble. Klimt and the knights were already on the job, but you can’t have too many hands in an emergency like this.

Together, we circled around the affected areas searching for anyone who was still alive. Many we managed to reach just in time, so the total number of victims was actually fewer than expected.

Since many of Marquis Ashtner’s underlings had already been thrown in jail, the noble district was half empty to begin with. Also, many managed to hide in underground shelters for the storm to blow over.

Now that we’ve finished saving the townspeople, we need to deal with the remaining enemies. Klimt also requested that we search out and eliminate any enemies still lurking within Alessa’s walls.

Or rather, Klimt handled the searching part while we’re in charge of extermination.

It seems the Great Spirit remembered Hideman’s mana signature from when he attacked Klimt. Thanks to that incident, she detected several places in Alessa emitting the same mana signature.

To think Hideman had so many clones aside from the assassin and item retrieval ones… Is this a cockroach thing where there’s always a dozen more hiding out of sight?

And yet Klimt managed to scan the entire city of Alessa without taking a single step outside. The Great Spirit’s detection abilities must be truly immense.

Perhaps the entire town can be considered something like a backyard to an entity on the level of a Great Spirit.

Thus, we followed her guidance to eliminate three Hideman copies.

Apparently, Hideman had the ability to split himself and possess multiple undead bodies simultaneously.

All of the copies were still Hideman, so they shared the same memories and abilities. However, the exact power and skills seem to depend on the body he is possessing, and how much of his soul he infused.

But what’s truly frightening was the Great Spirit ability to see through Hideman’s disguise so easily. Combining the spirit’s information gathering abilities with Klimt’s appraisal and expertise, the duo was capable of fully analyzing any opponent.

Well, they still had no clue what that sword thing was though.

There’s no way Hideman would tell us, and the Great Spirit didn’t give any detailed information either.

Klimt’s contract with the Great Spirit was still fresh, so it seems they were incapable of perfect communication. Thus, whatever connection the Great Spirit had with the item remained unknown. Apparently, even attempting a dialogue would require a lot of effort for a short duration.

That said, Klimt’s spirits were strangely interested in the object. He told us that the Great Spirit forcibly took it back from him.

So the sword has something related to spirits. I guess the ruined country utilized that property when they used it to summon the Great Spirit.

In the end, we couldn’t learn anything else. I suppose letting Klimt and the Great Spirit watch over it is the safest outcome.

Even if Hideman makes another attempt at Klimt’s life, he would find him up against a full power Rank A adventurer. Even Fran and I might have trouble in a battle against Klimt given his current abilities.

Meanwhile, our greatest bounty was an increase to the level of Fran’s Spirit Magic. Interacting with the Great Spirit of Wind and Marle seems to have been good training for her skill level.

Another of our spoils was the item bags that Hideman and his clones had on them.

These seemed to be enchanted with a contract from a very high-ranking mage, making them pretty difficult to open. Well, I managed to pry them open in the end!

All the bags had the exact same contents: a detailed map of Alessa and two magical tools.

First was the dagger used to stab Klimt. This was imbued with evil energy alongside its mana draining ability. Upon activation, it transforms all the evil energy into the form of an extended blade, which lasts about ten seconds.

Evil energy is capable of disrupting magic and barriers, giving the knife considerable penetrating power. Klimt only frowned when we showed it to him, but I found the dagger very interesting.

This informed me of another possible use of energy supplied by the Evil God Fragment: for breaking through our enemy’s defenses instead of creating a wall. However, evil energy is not something we can use all the time.

Evil is a power abhorred by many, so we should save it as a last resort for when we really need it. That said, perhaps I’ve been overusing evil energy these days. The Beast-Bug God said I can borrow power from the Evil God Fragment if I have a contract or permission, but I still need to be careful. We’re probably fine since Klimt is the only one who witnessed me using it, but trying to explain ourselves to other people might be troublesome.

As for the other magical tool in the item bag, it was a compass-like tool for locating people.

Though the tool had limited capabilities, it seemed to be specially made for Klimt. I checked all of their needles, and they all pointed to Klimt.

It seems they’re targeting Klimt quite relentlessly. Well, he did have the mysterious rod-sword in his possession, as well as being the biggest obstacle preventing them from destroying Alessa.

If they managed to eliminate Klimt and cause the Great Spirit to run amok in the town, it would be like killing three or four birds with one stone. Considering it that way, I suppose developing a specialized magic tool for him is worthwhile.

「Will Amanda be okay?」

『Hmm. From the Raydoss point of view, they must consider her to be as much of an annoyance as Klimt…』

We already know they birthed Nameless to counter Jean the necromancer. So what countermeasures have they taken against Amanda? Fran’s worries were valid.

However, Klimt simply laughed and assured us that Amanda will be fine when Fran voiced her concerns.

「While it is true that Amanda-kun is more suited for defense than offense… she is practically invincible during this war. There’s no need to worry.」

「What do you mean by invincible during this war?」

「Excuse me, invincible may be an exaggeration. Still, I assure you that Amanda-kun will be just fine.」

There must be some factor we’re not aware of. Rather than simply trying to cheer Fran up, he seems to be implying that Amanda had an ability in play. However, this was Amanda’s private information, so he refrained from giving a more detailed explanation.

「You should be more worried about yourself. You’re already a rather famous adventurer, you know.」

「…? Really?」

Now that you mention it, that may be true. Fran has solved incidents all over the world, and also won the Ulmutt martial arts tournament. We just recently heard about her latest nickname of Fleet Crusher in Bulbora. She really is a celebrity!

We’ve foiled a few of Raydoss’s plots, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they had their eyes on us. Maybe we should be more vigilant too.