Chapter 286

There were six men who, like me, were dressed entirely in black. Currently, they were standing in the shadows of the house on the other side of the street and looking this way. I could tell through Eyes of the God Wolf that they were targeting this house, and it seemed like only a matter of time before they put their plan into action. All other appearances at midnight up until now had been to scout out the place.

However, I wasn’t sure if I was lucky or unlucky to have been here on the night they decided to do it… Well, I suppose I was lucky, given it would mean more money. Though, that depended on my ability to capture all six of them and finish the job. As I folded my arms and considered this, the men started to walk towards the house.

“After some simulations…”

While I watched, I used Jack of all Trades, Master of None to see how I should move while fighting multiple opponents. Immobilize them without killing them… I used Legs of the Gold Wolf to jump into the sky and move over to the shadows of the building they had been hiding near. It was due to this new gear that I was able to move to their back so easily. So, this was what I could do while wholly relying on my equipment. I would be able to do even more with some practice…I think.

“…”

As I’d prefer to be unrecognized, I pulled down the hood of the Nightmare Crow cape. It was very similar to the hood on the wind dragon poncho.

Once I was ready, I silently created a sphere of water in the palm of my hand and then stretched it out. Its shape was maintained as it traveled towards the closest man and rapidly covered his mouth. Then I converted the energy I was sending so that the water froze in an instant. Still, his nostrils remained exposed so he could breathe. Then I hurriedly picked him up and jumped away with Legs of the God Wolf.

“Mmmm! Mmm!”

“Yes, yes. Be quiet.”

And just like that, I took him to the guardhouse near the Carteraza garden. He struggled viciously, of course, but I just splashed more water over his limbs and froze it.

“Mm. Mmm…”

“You better stay quiet.”

Just in case, I froze the rest of his body up to his neck. Now it was time to go onto the next guy. And so I left him and searched for the others with Eyes of the God Wolf. Perhaps they were being cautious, as they were walking quite slowly. It was good that they were wary of their surroundings, but pretty bad that they hadn’t even noticed one of their numbers was missing. Amateurs.

And so I used the same method to abduct another target and then dumped him near the guardhouse. It was just as I had successfully taken down the third man and was about to start on the fourth. Something had changed. They had finally realized that people had gone missing. I could see them frantically looking around. I had simulated this scenario in my head already. I was currently watching them from the sky.

“Where are they? Why aren’t they here…!”

“Shh! Perhaps we’ve been discovered…!”

“Damn! What’s happening!?”

They were talking pretty loudly for people who were trespassing. Where was their sense of danger? Also, hearing their voices like this told me one thing that was new. The person in the lead was a woman. The short hair had made me assume otherwise… Of course, this didn’t change anything. Tie them up and hand them over to Miss Camilla. End of the quest.

Slowly, I unleashed dark blue energy into the air, filling it with the water attribute. Once I had control over the moisture, I changed the energy in the ice attribute. Attribute conversion. This too was a new magic I had devised through Jack of all Trades, Master of None while I was guarding.

“Frost Rain.”

I muttered, activating the spell. And like that, drops of rain began to fall onto the garden. The three intruders looked up at the sudden downpour, but Presence Block insured that they didn’t see me. While they were clearly puzzled, they were still more interested in finding where their comrades had gone. Regardless, their defeat was all but confirmed. They should have run when they had the chance. After all, this was Frost Rain.

“Damn it. Where did they…huh?”

“Why-why is this rain freezing!”

“Thi-this is bad! We have to get…!”

The water froze just as it hit them. It wasn’t just cold rain. And since they didn’t run the moment it hit, their clothes would freeze over, and they would no longer be able to move. And then they would be caught. That being said, doing magic on this scale without my ice dragon armor was, back-breaking work… I was starting to feel dizzy. But I kept it up and took in deep breathes. As I waited, the intruders started to freeze. The woman in the lead was covering her mouth, but the other two were just screaming.

I didn’t think I could take it much longer, and so I stopped the rain and slowly descended. The two men completely encased in ice, and only their eyes were moving. As for their leader…I think she was, anyway…she was closing hers. It was odd. Just as my feet touched the ground, I sensed the stirring of magical energy. She hadn’t given up!

I unsheathed my sword in preparation. It was then that I realized what color the energy was.

“Shit… A pyromancer…”

The red energy coursed through her body. White fumes rose into the air as the ice rapidly began to melt. Well, this will be interesting. I thought. And then her eyes opened and she looked straight at me.

“Now I can see you. Your skills with Presence Block are incredible.”

“Not quite. It’s all in the equipment.”

“Hmph. I won’t be fooled so easily. Who are you?”

She asked as she unsheathed a single-edged blade. I was the one who should be asking that question.

“Why don’t you answer that first? You are a brave bandit for trying to steal from one of the eight great houses.”

“I’m no bandit. This…is a mission!”

Her arm prepared to strike as she charged forward. I ducked and then jumped back.

“You’ve been doing an awful job then. Are you new?”

“We are the elite!”

I spun around and blocked her upward slash with Ashikirimaru. I then tried to push her back, but she turned it to the side. She was quick to switch from offensive to defensive. In terms of combat at least, she was pretty decent.

“A mission to steal from someone?”

“It is my duty to obey the client!”

This time I parried her attack with my left gauntlet and then punched with my right hand, which was gripping the shortsword. I couldn’t let my guard down when dealing with someone who was armed. I jumped back after hitting her in the shoulder. I wanted to find out who this person was before arresting her.

The Carteruza’s were nobles. There was no doubt they would use torture when it came to questioning. And that was something I had a distaste for. Daniela’s more playful bedroom antics being an entirely separate matter. Knowing where this would all lead, being able to avoid all that and extract the information myself would prove that I was a capable man.

“I know that you’re after the Automata. That was sold through an official transaction. It’s not something you can take.”

“It is not for us to decide what is right and wrong!”

“It’s a bad idea! This is Carteraza. Surely they are more powerful than whoever is backing you?”

“…! That doesn’t matter! Get out of my way!”

She growled and held her sword out as she charged. I was going to parry the attack and move behind her, but had to jump away instead. She had suddenly raised her sword to slash. The starlight glimmered over the blade’s tip as it missed me by a hair’s breadth. My body felt lighter because of the cape. I could jump pretty high even without Legs of the God Wolf. I was feeling really good about my shopping choices…

“Tsk…”

“Give up. You can’t beat me.”

“Don’t be so sure. I’ll kill you and rescue the others. We’ll finish the mission!”

That was some hot-blooded loyalty. Would it be very difficult to persuade her…?

Well, in that case, I would just have to use overwhelming force. I put away the shortsword and created an Ice Sword in my empty hand. This could be done in an instant when I am wearing ice dragon armor. Still, it was really just a second’s difference.

“…So, you were holding back all alone.”

“I told you to stop. If you won’t, I’ll have to make you!”

From that point, the battle was vicious. As Eyes of the God Wolf was tiring to use, I switched to Night Eyes and could see her very clearly. And like that, I dodged her swings, blocked, and made it known that she was no match for me. I thought it would all be over once her sword went flying into the air. But then, just like me, she conjured a sword made of fire and attacked. A Flame Sword, huh? In that case, a Water Sword would be better to get rid of it. As Daniela said, you could annihilate magic by hitting it with the same attribute or with the same amount of energy. While ice was weaker, I could push through if I used three times as much energy, but that was an unnecessary gamble.

Once I had broken through her trump card, she finally fell to her knees.

“Give up. I don’t mean to kill you.”

“Your intentions…mean nothing.”

True. But I still wanted to keep my hands clean. Perhaps they had a reason for doing this. And so I couldn’t just kill them. That’s what I was. A weak human.

“I can negotiate for you. But you have to talk to me first.”

“…You want me to trust you?”

She looked up and stared at me. It was written all over her face. Circumstances. Obviously, there were things I could and couldn’t do. But I intended to do my best.