I was flustered by the young girl’s direct stare, and Mr. Chotos was bawling. This two-man party was on the brink of annihilation.
In any case, it was safe to say that Mr. Chotos’s attempt to negotiate with our assailants had ended in complete failure. Well, he was only an old man. I couldn’t say I expected much from him.
While Mr. Chotos was negotiating, I had examined Ginem. That was why I hadn’t stopped Mr. Chotos, even though I had little hope for his attempt. Though I was sure his words would come to nothing, the time he bought me to assess Ginem was by no means useless. In fact, it yielded several new facts about our enemy.
As Mr. Chotos pleaded his case, Ginem and his group showed no signs of moving. Neither did they show signs of impatience. This group had said they wanted to make this attack look like the work of the Flame Bicorn. In short, while I supposed this was a given, it meant they didn’t want their crime to be made public. In that case, however, they should’ve killed us far earlier. The longer they took to commit their crime, the greater the chance of discovery.
But this group was utterly unbothered. To be fair, not a single person had passed on the road while the Wind flotation box was being repaired. While this wasn’t the type of place people and vehicles often passed through, it seemed likely this group had prepared for that eventuality.
I didn’t know of any spell to prevent passersby, but if the Paisley Company was supporting this group from behind the scenes, I didn’t think it would be difficult for them to shut down a portion of the road. Unfortunately, I had to give up on the strategy of trying to buy time for help to arrive.
Another thing had caught my attention. Once more, I casually glanced at the forest to my right. If anyone was buying time, it was Ginem and his group. While they remained stationary, the large golem and their owner were slowly moving—not behind me, but more directly to the right. They weren’t getting closer, but it unsettled me nevertheless.
While maintaining a fixed distance, they had moved a few dozen meters. They were practically directly horizontal to me now. They moved slowly, silently, stifling the least of their noises. But why did they continue to change their position in these seemingly minute, meaningless ways?
In any case, I wanted to avoid fighting them once they got into their preferred position. I needed to start the fight soon, even though I still hadn’t had any epiphanies about how to deal with them.
Likewise, as I made use of my sorcerous detection ability, I came to understand its limits. If the ambush party moved any further away, I didn’t think I’d be able to sense their movements unless I consciously searched for them. It seemed my accuracy dropped when challenged by things like distance and visibility.
Which is all to say, while this ability diminished the risk of surprise attack, it didn’t make me omniscient.
It seemed Gol’s detection was far superior to mine, if you took range into account. She could detect a monkey in her blind spot from an absurd distance. On the other hand, if something entered my blind spot, my sorcery radar wouldn’t even pick it up.
Conversely, it seemed I was particularly adept at calculating the threat of visible objects, even flying ones, provided they were in an open and unobstructed space. I could precisely tell a bird’s position and condition as it flew high in the air.
In other words, if Gol’s Surface Detection was a ground sonar, my ability was like an aircraft radar.
Did Gol always see the world like this? I glanced at Gol as she pressed herself close to me. Well, I likely perceived things a bit differently, but that feeling of being able to minutely grasp my surroundings was probably one she knew well.
And yet, even though Gol could read her enemies’ movements and was always quick to fight, she stuck close and refused to leave if she thought I was in danger. She really did worry about me.
However, we would only break this deadlock if Gol separated from me and started the fight. I just needed to convince her to do so.
Mr. Chotos was still desperately trying to appeal to Ginem Bari for my life. He really didn’t know when to give up.
I plopped my hand on his shoulder. “Mister, it’s fine.”
“N-Nemaki…?”
“That’s enough. You tried. Although what they’re doing is surely illegal, they came here under the pretense of fulfilling their duty, so I don’t think any amount of persuasion is gonna make them leave.”
“N-no, but…” Mr. Chotos looked like he wanted to continue, even so. This persistent desire of his to resolve every problem with words was truly noble. It was the mentality of a cultured man. Compared to every member of the opposing group, who took pride in their violence, I thought Mr. Chotos was far more elegant and—dare I say—cool.
But the time for talking has passed. You don’t have to keep pushing yourself, mister.
“It can’t be helped. Think of them as wild monkeys incapable of communication and give up,” I said.
You know, I’d once thought about becoming friends with the monkeys I encountered in the wasteland, but that had been an empty dream. The monkeys of this world didn’t possess the intelligence required to converse with humans. There was no need for Mr. Chotos to go through the same grief at missed connections that I had already suffered.
“Any effort you spend trying to communicate with monkeys of such low intelligence is spent in vain.” I emphasized the last few words.
My sorcery told me that veins were bursting in the foreheads of some of the spellcasters, while others’ eyebrows twitched in irritation.
Whoa, the arrogant busty lady looks like she’s gonna bite me. That’s kind of scary.
I lowered my voice and whispered to Mr. Chotos. “Hey, mister, take your daughter and the driver and move to the left and behind me. Do it slowly, and as naturally as possible. Once you’ve moved, huddle and stick close to me.”
“Wh-why?”
“If you don’t want to die, please do as I say.”
Ginem Bari had said before that I was his priority. However, I couldn’t take him at face value. In the first place, he hadn’t explicitly said he wouldn’t kill the other three once he was done with me. Also, there was no way a group of criminals who planned to use a Flame Bicorn as a cover-up would let any witnesses live. In the end, I still had to protect these three.