CH 76

We walk without a particular destination in mind, and end up somewhere pretty far from the center. Did we take a wrong turn somewhere? Is it because we left the main street?

“We’ve come to a weird place. Let’s go back.”

I try to do just that, but Hikari stops.

We hear footsteps echoing through this back alley, until one person jumps out in front of us, followed by ten more shortly after.

This person’s face is hidden by a hood attached to a loose robe, and when she notices us, she first stops but then runs towards us while screaming.

“Help! I’m being chased!”

She sounds like a woman, and also desperate. She goes around and hides behind me, but I’m not your shield, you know?

I turn back, but quickly look forward again, at the group in front of us.

They are all wearing robes with a light gray color that’s close to white, and all have the same necklaces.

“Can you hand her over to us?”

“Sure.”

I say immediately in response to this grave voice, as I raise my arms to show I’m not resisting.

“What are you talking about? Those are bad guys!”

She screams close to my ears. Don’t do that, it’s making my ears ring.

Those people also seem taken aback, probably because they didn’t expect me to comply so easily.

I turn back and use Appraisal again, and then look forward and use Appraisal there again too.

Hikari looks uninterested.

I turn around, suddenly grab the girl wearing the robe, and throw her before she can say anything.

Sorry for the rough treatment, and I thank the blessing that is physical strengthening.

The girl draws a short arc as she flies towards a middle-aged man, who looks baffled as he stands in place and follows her with his eyes.

He then raises his arms to catch her, but is instead caught by a straight right punch that explodes on his left cheek.

The man is sent flying, and the girl lands.

This series of events feel like they freeze the air around us.

Hikari is still looking like she doesn’t care, but is watching what’s going on.

“What do you think you’re doing, throwing a helpless lady around like that? Are you some kind of fiend!? An idiot!? Brute!?”

Insults start flying, but it’s my loss if I respond. I don’t want to get dragged into this weird mess. In fact, I’m the one that’s taken aback by how she hit him with no hesitation.

“Master, can we go?”

“Yes, just pretend you didn’t see anything. We didn’t see anything.”

Hikari asks to leave, probably sensing something’s not right, and I roll with it.

“Hold it right there!”

The girl is about to step forward, but she’s stopped when her hand is grabbed from behind.

“Master!”

Hikari sounds flustered.

I step forward and reach out, pushing her back, and a soft feeling spreads through the palm of my hand. I-it’s not like I did it on purpose. The girl jumps back towards the person behind her, and I feel an impact on my arm.

I grit my teeth. It hurts too much. Is Pain Reduction not working? Is this the effect of some sort of skill?

I look at my arm and see an arrow piercing it.

While trying to bear the pain, I bring up Map with Presence Detection, and activate Magic Energy Detection too.

I can see presences getting away at an incredible speed, probably because their sneak attack failed. Are they just sticking to their plan of retreating without firing again?

Both the girl in front of me and the group that was chasing her are dumbfounded by what just happened.

“Master, are you all right?”

Only Hikari reacts, as she comes near me.

But this prompts the other girl to move too.

“L-let me see that.”

She reaches out to touch me, but I stop her with my other hand.

“Wait, the arrow is probably coated with poison. Don’t touch it, it’s dangerous.”

I yell as I try to bear the pain. It’s reverberating.

Hikari looks worried, so I try to calm down a little. I twist my right arm to make it so I can more easily pull the arrow out with my left hand. It’s not just the arrowhead, the shaft is coated with poison too.

I brace myself and pull the arrow out. Ooh… Blood is gushing.

I keep looking at it like I’m not the one bleeding, but at this rate I’m going to lose a lot of blood. But just as I’m thinking I have to cast healing magic, I hear someone say ‘heal’ from the side.

The girl is chanting healing magic.

After the wound in my arm closes, she casts ‘recovery’, and collapses like the strength has been drained from her body.

I can see through an opening in her robe that she looks pale. I catch her without even thinking, and her slender body feels strangely heavy. I don’t think she would even be able to stand if I let go.

I know these symptoms. She ran out of MP.

If I remember correctly, holy magic spends more MP than other kinds of magic. Her level seems low too, so she can’t have a lot of MP in the first place, right?

She should wake up if I give her a mana potion, but if I use it on someone who is unconscious… Uh? Now that I think about it, when I passed out due to running out of MP, I recovered a lot of MP by the time I woke up, and only MP… I’m pretty sure I changed jobs to sorcerer back then, so is that why?

“What are you planning to do with her?”

Asks the middle-aged man as I think.

I honestly don’t know what to do. It’s obvious that the arrow was aimed at her, but these people are members of the same church as her. I want to think they’re colleagues or something, but she was running. I was just going to hand her over to them, but this complicates things.

“Are you people on her side?”

I really don’t know, so I just ask directly.

“Of course. We cannot allow anyone to harm her.”

I get an immediate answer. I think he’s telling the truth, but I don’t have enough to reach a decision.

Even I have to ask myself why I thought asking that question would give me a definitive answer. I need to be a bit more cool-headed.

“Master, what are you going to do?”

“When in doubt, ask people who know what to do, I guess.”

“H-hey. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Just shut up and follow me. I honestly don’t know if I can trust you.”

“W-what are you saying?”

Their anger towards what I said seems to me like an overreaction, but I guess it can’t be helped. The situation changed. I collect the arrow and start walking.

The younger men seem to be saying something, but the middle-aged man decides to follow me.

I think he reached the conclusion that I don’t want to harm this girl.

Of course, my destination isn’t the church. I go straight to the Apostel home. They’re related to the church, so they should know what to do.

I leave that group standing in a line in front of the house, as I ask the guards to go call Rondot for me.

“Welcome back. Who are these people?”

He asks as he looks at the girl in my arms and the people from the church lined up behind us.

“I think I got roped into a bit of a problem. Can you please call the old… Mister Dan?”