All of the men had face coverings so it was impossible to tell what they looked like. They were similar in height and build, and I assumed they had paired them together to make it hard to tell each of them apart. I did know that it was the one with the crossbow who had shot at Leen. Their matching gear was black, light, and tight, allowing for ease of movement. It was clear that they weren’t a party of upright adventurers—they had made sure to hide their right hands so that no one could identify them by their Spheres. This was an ironclad guild rule that they had broken.
The man with the sword muttered from behind his cloth mask, “Kill the men. We take the girl and the carbuncle alive!”
The three of them moved into action immediately.
“Get back, Leen!” I said.
“A-All right!” she responded.
The chief reason Leen had hired me was that although her skills as a monstermancer allowed her to be essentially untouchable by monsters, that did nothing against people with violent intentions.
Most adventurers, myself included, hadn’t devoted our entire selves to the guild. However, since we had acquired our Spheres and had been granted power thanks to them, we still lived in line with their rules and were thus associated with them. That was just how it was. Despite this, there were still adventurers who used their Spheres for their own selfish ambitions, choosing to not stay under the guild’s control. They were stung by the slings of society and chose to ignore all sorts of taboos and laws—simply put, they were outlaws.
The outlaw swung his sword without so much as a rallying cry, and I swiftly evaded it. A spear thrust awaited me from behind, which I deflected with my sword. There was no emotion in their acts—it was honed teamwork that was designed to kill me quickly. They were good.
“Dammit...”
They had the numerical advantage and a crossbow user—I couldn’t afford to stop moving. However, with Tiesel behind me, I couldn’t let them push me back either—our options would be restricted with less space to work with. Unfortunately they had the most annoying array of weapons to fight against, as they’d covered all possible ranges.
The fact that they’d followed us this deep into a hazardous zone with that equipment to ambush us indicated that they were a skilled bunch, but they really were good at this type of combat.
“Fetur: Meduglare!”
While I was keeping them occupied, Tiesel let out a shout. With his extra incantation, the fireballs cut two thin, complex routes through the air as they soared toward the enemy. At the same time, I saw him scoop up the carbuncle to safety. He was good.
“Tch,” the man with the sword said. He leaped backward and slashed at the fireball, causing it to fizzle out.
“Huh?” Tiesel said.
“Anti-magic equipment... They’ve come prepared, the bastards,” I said.
The enemy and I confirmed our distances as we prepared for the next clash. However, this was the ideal range for the crossbow user. I quickly hid behind a tree to avoid being assaulted by crossbow bolts since I had no way to defend myself.
“Wh-What’s with these people?!” Leen squealed.
I hadn’t noticed that she was hiding behind this tree too. She’d been watching the fight, but honestly it wasn’t good.
“Did Hallabey hire you?!” Tiesel shouted, but the men didn’t answer.
I could sense the distance between us, and also them slowly shrinking.
“Who’s Hallabey?” I said.
“I mentioned him earlier. He’s the merchant I tasked with selling the Carbuncle Stones,” Tiesel replied.
“Oh yeah, the orc-like guy.”
“I didn’t think he was stupid enough to take such drastic measures.”
The carbuncle tilted its head with a “mii?”, evidently unsure of what was going on. Tiesel stroked its head, clucking his tongue in displeasure.
“Why the hell did you team up with someone who was so obviously a bad guy?” I asked.
“A variety of reasons. After we were driven from our home and fled to this continent, we were helped out by...”
I didn’t realize Tiesel owed the guy. That made sen—
“...his master!”
“Wait, someone else?!”
“Yeah, Hallabey had been their disciple, but he said he wanted to go solo. He was apparently opening a big store, and I didn’t really have anyone else I could ask to sell them, so...”
“Come on, man, be a little more careful... Your life is in literal danger right now!”
“Yeah, I do feel like an idiot for getting involved with him. It was my own misjudgment of character.”
I remembered the unease I felt when Leen and I had arrived at Tiesel’s house earlier today. This lot must have been tailing us since then.
The reason the Carbuncle Stones weren’t selling anymore in Esma was because they had supplied too many to the wealthy classes. This didn’t mean that they had to give up—no, they could merely continue the scheme elsewhere and make a killing until it reached the same point there. I imagined that this lot had wanted to repeat this forever, hopping from town to town and racking up a fortune. However, Tiesel had brought a swift end to their scheme before they were ready to call it quits. That was why they’d resorted to desperate measures.
There were countless adventurers who’d gone to a hazardous zone and never returned home—if they dispatched us here, then they could wash their hands of us without leaving any evidence. They would then be able to take the carbuncle for themselves, recruit another adventurer who could use magic, and restart the scheme. That was what they had planned, unaware of the particularities about carbuncles.
“That means we don’t need to capture these guys alive,” I said.
The guild stated that any outlaws who broke their contract needed to be hunted down and their Spheres retrieved, but they didn’t care whether these criminals were brought in dead or alive. However, if we were to prove that these fellows had a connection to that orc-like Hallabey, then we needed them alive. This was proving to be a real pain in the ass.
“Tiesel Kreyon,” one of them said. “We know your sister is due to be married tomorrow.”
Tiesel froze up.
“If you follow our demands, then we’ll let you return alive. Come here with that carbuncle now.”
They’d taken a family member hostage? What a blatant threat. It seemed like they’d gotten a good read on our combat abilities from our little scuffle. Having failed to ambush us, they’d realized that a fight would lead to injuries or death, so they’d decided to smooth talk our side into relenting to reduce our numbers. They were quick on their feet, and it was incredibly annoying.
I pondered what my next move should be. Tiesel and I had only known each other for a day. I didn’t know what he was going to prioritize.
“Listen here,” Tiesel said. He usually spoke in such a mild-mannered tone, but now it had dropped a full octave. “Don’t you dare lay a single finger on Sharney. If you do, I swear I’ll burn you from head to toe before destroying your eyes.”
“Talk about scary,” I muttered.
“Eep!” Leen squeaked.
Tiesel’s gaze had become a terrifying glare at the mention of his sister. Even from the side, Leen and I were shaking at the transformation his facial expression had undergone.
“If you care that much about your sister, then it would be wise to comply with our demands,” one of the men said. “Go.”
“Right,” came a reply from one of the men.
I sensed one of them breaking from the group. I doubted they would let their long-range combatant move from an advantageous location, so it was probably the one wielding the spear. Or maybe they had more in hiding.
“Tch...”
If they were bringing Sharney into this, then they should’ve changed tack as soon as Tiesel had told them he wasn’t going to supply them with Carbuncle Stones anymore. But the reason they hadn’t done that was because killing or kidnapping someone in Esma would have garnered far too much attention. The guild would have sprung into action to bring in the outlaws. This was a measure they couldn’t have used otherwise. It was thanks to us being here in this hazardous zone with no one else around that they could resort to violence without worry.
It would be easy to just brush aside their comments as a bluff, but if we let that spear-wielding outlaw get to Esma before us, then that threat would become real, and they’d end up with the upper hand.
“You’re adventurers, so think about this pragmatically. Your lives are a cheap price to pay for your sister’s safety, no?” the man went on.
The quickest way to secure my and Leen’s own safety was to immobilize Tiesel and render him unable to betray us. Unfortunately that would leave us outnumbered...
“Hakura?” Tiesel asked, staring at me pointedly. “We need to eliminate them immediately then chase after the one that ran away.”
“Agreed.”
“As soon as I give the signal, close your eyes. You too, Leen.”
“O-Okay, I will.”
We were quick to put a plan into action. Tiesel and I leaped out from behind our trees—I was on the right, he was on the left.
“Tch!”
The crossbow-wielding outlaw focused on me. He must have been ready to fire the moment one of us moved, for the bolt came whistling my way as soon as he clocked me.
“I dunno about the other two, but you’re an idiot,” I muttered.