Chapter 415

The men were gathered in the clearing

We moved through the buildings, as the gaps were wide enough to pass through, and stopped just before coming out into the clearing.

Up ahead, there was an open space where several buildings had once been.

It was bigger than the place where we had found Liza, but there were a few wooden pillars left, which suggested it hadn’t been that long since the buildings were town down.

And in the far back, towards the outer wall of Ractos, several men had gathered.

What were they doing at the edge of town?

All of them were standing while facing the wall... And it didn’t look like they were resting.

“Leo. Behind me...”

“Wuff...”

I whispered so that Leo could hear me, and had her move back a little.

I then crouched in the shadows between the buildings and tried to avoid being seen.

It was still raining, and since it was night, I should be hidden.

“Surely you all understand?”

The man who stood in the center raised his voice.

It was like he was talking to the wall, which was strange.

“Hmm...is that...”

When I squinted, I saw a few people between the men standing in front of the wall.

They were facing me, and not the wall. It was like they were sandwiched between the wall and the men.

Were they surrounded?

And as I looked, I saw that the people being surrounded looked familiar.

Well, two of them did, anyway.

But even with enhanced senses, I could not see them clearly... But I thought they looked like the boys who had been bullying Liza.

Upon seeing this, the man started to kick one of the boys.

His foot slammed into the boy’s stomach, causing him to cry out. Leo almost jumped out then, but I stopped her.

It was a good thing that it was raining...otherwise, they might have noticed us.

“...Kuun.”

“While I feel bad for him, wait a little longer... I want to find out what is happening. ...Of course, I will go out if he tries to use that knife.”

“...Wuff.”

Leo barked as if to ask me why I didn’t help them, but I gritted my teeth and told her to be patient.

To be honest, I was sure now that they were the ones who had attacked Liza. And I did feel a little conflicted about that.

However, I also felt bad for them now that they were surrounded by these men.

Leo was the same. I suppose it was because she liked children.

But if we were going to jump out, I wanted for it to be after we had assessed the situation a little more.

I was almost sure that this leader was Deam, but I wanted to be a certain.

If I was wrong, and Deam was somewhere else...that could be very bad.

Leo nodded reluctantly, and I turned my focus back to the men.

The men surrounding the boys were all muscular.

And the leader was bigger than the others.

They had shaved heads and were barechested in spite of the rain. And there seemed to be something written on their backs. Well, I couldn’t see it clearly, but there were black lines.

“What if they find out where I live... Eh!? I’ll kill you!”

“Bu-but...we only did what you said, Mr. Deam...”

“Aye, I said it. However, I didn’t tell you to throw rocks in a crowd! Did I!”

“Mr. Deam only said to torment the beastkin child!”

“He said to chase after her and not let her escape. But he also said that we should avoid being seen...”

“Yes! And yet, what happened? Not only did you let it escape, but you antagonized the duke as well! You bloody fools! And right after we were rid of that annoying old man, Reyndolf! Now that the duke has been alerted, things will become difficult again!”