The girl kept running, trying to slip past the pair, but her body suddenly staggered. Epio instinctively reached out and steadied her.
“Haah… haah… haa…”
Her breathing was so ragged it seemed she might collapse at any moment. Clara immediately flew into a panic.
“Y-You! What are you doing?! Why are you naturally throwing yourself into Sir Epio’s arms…!”
But even she trailed off mid-sentence. The girl in Epio’s embrace had turned deathly pale, as though she really would faint.
Only then did they clearly see her appearance.
She looked one or two years younger than the two of them. She was about two hand-spans shorter than Clara, and her messy ivory-colored hair fell untidily over her eyes.
What stood out most was how exceptionally well-nourished and finely dressed she was.
[Look ahead. They’re coming.]
At Plebelziam’s telepathic warning, Clara snapped back to attention and stared down the alley. Figures with unmistakably ominous auras soon emerged from the shadows.
One of them stepped forward.
It was a bald man nearly two meters tall.
“Huu… It’s troublesome when you wander the streets on your own like this, young lady. If anything happens to you, we’re the ones who get scolded by the boss.”
“………”
The bald man’s gaze shifted to Epio and Clara.
“Did you two protect our young lady? We’ll reward you handsomely. What are you lot standing around for? Hurry up and escort the lady.”
The eight underlings behind him moved toward the trio at his command.
Epio and Clara exchanged glances.
It reeked of trouble no matter how they looked at it. Getting dragged into something this messy without knowing the full story was best avoided.
But—
“Help me…”
The faint voice pierced Epio’s ear. At the same time, the girl trembled violently and clutched his sleeve with all her strength.
Epio’s expression tightened slightly.
“…Looks like she doesn’t want to go with you people.”
“Hm. It’s not wise to meddle in someone else’s family affairs. You must be too young to understand.”
“………”
“Take a look at this, brat.”
The man spoke confidently and rolled up his right sleeve. A red bat tattoo was inked there.
“That’s…”
Clara frowned.
Before entering the Wiblet Empire, Aiden had warned them. That tattoo was the symbol of a criminal organization that wielded enormous influence in the empire’s underworld.
“Praszkeak Guild…”
“In other words, they’re bad guys. So it’s fine to beat them up, right?”
Shing! Epio drew his sword without hesitation.
“Sir Epio?!”
[Damn, I knew you’d do that. Aside from the bald guy still standing there, the rest are all trash. Sweep them all away.]
“I was going to even without you telling me!”
Fwoosh!
Rampage qi erupted like an explosion.
Epio, his body reinforced to the limit, charged forward. In the next instant, the eight warriors’ weapons surged toward him like a wave.
Boom! Bang!
With deafening crashes, the weapons were deflected and five underlings’ blood sprayed into the air. Epio had overwhelmed all of them with a single slash, turning them into bloody pulp.
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
“…Impressive. You don’t look that old, yet your skill is high enough to fight our executives.”
Even after losing his subordinates, the man’s expression remained relaxed.
“If you have no intention of stepping aside and leaving the girl, I’ll turn you into the same mess.”
“Huu, this is exactly why I hate babysitting…”
The man slipped on a gauntlet as he spoke.
“Go ahead and try whatever you want, kid. I’ll teach you how wide the world—”
In that instant Epio’s figure blurred, and the next moment he was right in front of the man. Without hesitation he slammed a Boom Strike straight into the man’s face.
Ka-boom!
“What the—?!”
The strike was far more explosive and heavy than expected!
All composure vanished from the man’s face. Splurt! A massive amount of blood burst from Epio’s right arm as he pushed Rampage qi to its absolute limit.
Crack!
“Gaaah!”
The moment the man’s hand bone made contact with Plebelziam’s sword body, it shattered into pieces with the explosion. Barely clinging to life, he screamed and tumbled, slamming into the wall.
“Sir Epio! Are you all right?!”
“I’m fine.”
Despite his calm tone, he did not look fine at all. His torn right arm had exposed bone and muscle.
Yet even that deep wound was healing in real time thanks to his terrifying regenerative power.
“…I’ll treat you!”
A cluster of light flowed from Clara’s hand and wrapped around Epio’s right arm.
Dragon Recovery
The spell that promoted the body’s natural regeneration boasted perfect synergy with Infinite Regeneration (S). Epio’s right arm returned to normal in mere seconds.
Meanwhile, the man who had taken the hit was crawling on the ground, grinding his teeth.
‘Damn it, this is impossible… I’m an executive of Praszkeak, yet I couldn’t even stand against a brat like him?’
He had no intention of challenging the terrifying boy again. The single exchange had made the overwhelming gap between them crystal clear.
Even so, if he let the girl escape now, a fate worse than death awaited him.
“Damn it… can’t be helped.”
Spitting a curse, he suddenly pulled out a pill from his pocket and swallowed it whole.
Veins immediately bulged across his entire body.
[Epio. The wave coming from that bald guy you sent flying just now has gotten even stranger.]
“What?”
At the telepathic message, both Clara and Epio turned toward the man.
Just as Plebelziam had said, the man who had risen to his feet now had bulging veins all over and had grown noticeably larger.
Most of all, sinister energy was pouring out from various parts of his darkened body.
Epio felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Clare…?”
The enlarged man was clearly unrelated to Epio’s foster father. Yet for some reason he suddenly thought of Clare.
Clara spoke.
“That power… he’s a demon worshipper.”
“A demon worshipper? That guy?”
“Yes. They are beings hostile to both the Holy Nation and the Dragon God Cathedral, so they have the worst possible compatibility with my magic.”
Cross Flame
Angle Red
Campfire
Clara, stepping forward without fear, activated the three flame spells embedded in her Flame Ruby Glove (A+).
“Huuuup…”
She swallowed all the flames and unleashed the offensive spell commonly used by the Dragon Priestesses.
Dragon Breath
Fwoooosh!
A breath of sacred flame poured from Clara’s mouth. The intense blaze completely engulfed the enlarged man’s body.
When the flames died down, only a pile of ash remained where the Praszkeak demon worshipper had stood.
Clara lightly wiped the corner of her mouth.
“…He wasn’t that strong. Looks like he was just a subordinate who received a share of the power.”
[Hey, something’s left inside that guy’s corpse.]
Epio walked over to the ashes at the telepathic warning. Two strangely shaped pills had somehow survived intact.
“…What are these things used for?”
“I don’t know. But if we give them to Aiden, he’ll figure out what they are right away.”
[It’s funny that I can’t deny that…]
Clara glanced around.
“Let’s think about the aftermath after we get out of here. If the security officers find out we were at a fight scene, we definitely won’t get off with just ten smacks on the head from Aiden-nim…”
The pair quickly left the area with the unidentified girl and only breathed a sigh of relief once they reached a crowded plaza.
Epio, sitting on a bench and tearing into the jerky he had bought on the way, asked the girl,
“Hey, what kind of person are you?”
“Visanya… Visanya Cobaruvius. Twelve years old.”
Epio fell into brief thought.
Judging by her refined appearance and clothing, this girl Visanya was probably a noble. And Linia had taught him that when addressing an unmarried noble lady for the first time, one should add “Lady” to the family name.
“Cobaruvia… Cobaruvius… That’s a hard name to say. I’ll just call you Visanya. I’m Epio.”
“Mm…”
“So why were you being chased by bad guys like the Praszkeak Guild?”
“Those people want to make medicine using my friend Obsidirola’s power. To do that they need me to use my strength, but it hurts, so I ran away…!”
“The story is all over the place; I can’t understand what you’re saying. You said they want to borrow your friend’s power, but why do they need Lady Visanya’s power?”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize—just explain properly.”
Clara, unusually irritated, scolded her, causing Visanya to shrink back and tremble even harder.
Epio scratched his head and suggested,
“Should we take this kid back to the mansion?”
“…Mm.”
Clara did not look particularly thrilled.
But since their leader Aiden was paying close attention to the Praszkeak Guild, they could not simply abandon Visanya when she seemed deeply entangled with them.
“Ah… can’t be helped. Let’s take her to Aiden-nim. It’s definitely better than going with those scary uncles, right, Lady Visanya?”
“Mm!”
The two set off back to the mansion with Visanya. On the way they passed through the market street, where they bought a hairpin. The reason was that her bangs covering her eyes looked uncomfortable.
When they pinned the hairpin in Visanya’s hair and swept her long bangs to the side, her neat face was fully revealed.
“Looks much better than before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
At the compliment, color finally returned to Visanya’s previously gloomy face. Seeing how well they got along, Clara pouted.
“…Sir Epio. We came out to play together today, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s true.”
“Buying another girl a present right in the middle of our alone time? Even a playboy wouldn’t do that.”
She grumbled in dissatisfaction, but Epio, who had zero sense for such things, simply tilted his head in confusion.
Then, at one moment—
“I’ve been looking for you for a while, Visanya.”
At the calm voice, Visanya’s body froze.
Epio and Clara turned toward the direction of the unfamiliar voice. There stood a man wearing a pitch-black visor mask.
“I was very worried. Let’s go home.”
“………”
The man extended his hand toward Visanya.
The girl bit her lip and opened her mouth.
“…I’m sorry. I’ll… go back.”
Before Epio could stop her, Visanya ran forward and took the hand of the man who appeared to be her blood relative. They walked off somewhere together.
“Wait…!”
The instant Epio tried to call out, the man glanced back at the pair. A glare flashed from behind the thin visor mask.
An overwhelming pressure beyond imagination!
Epio broke into a cold sweat and finally understood the situation.
The only reason he and Clara had not been killed on the spot was the dense crowd of people around them.
[That Visanya brat… the guy who took her looks pretty strong. At least to my eyes he seems better than the lizard you traveled with when you first joined the group.]
“…At least Triple Star level, then?”
Plebelziam’s assessment drew a sigh.
His wave detection was fairly accurate at measuring an opponent’s level.
Kubri was Level 58, a high-ranking member among the Twelve Heroes. If the man who had appeared before Epio and Clara—presumably the leader of Praszkeak—was clearly superior to Kubri, that meant he was over Level 60.
It was not particularly strange.
As had been mentioned before, selection into the Twelve Heroes weighed not only personal martial prowess but also status and achievements.
Because of that, quite a few people surpassed or matched the Twelve Heroes in pure strength.
The Wiblet Empire was one of the strongest nations on the Prima Continent. Considering the talent pool that came with its population size, it was not odd for one or two individuals above Level 60 to exist.
“What did he look like?”
“He was wearing a mask and a hood, so I couldn’t see anything. Ah, the only thing visible was his mouth, and from a glance it looked quite handsome. He was also very tall…”
Clara rambled.
It was not particularly helpful information.
Letting out a sigh, Aiden looked at the two pills they had brought back.
Obsidrol Serum Pill · Modified (A)
- Enhances stats in proportion to level
- Can use demon qi during the enhancement period
He had roughly guessed it when he heard the story from Flora, but obtaining these two additional modified pills had also clarified Visanya’s whereabouts and role as a recruitment target.
She was most likely being held captive at Praszkeak’s headquarters, forced to have her blood drawn to produce these “demon pills.”
Looking at the added second function, a “demon contractor” affiliated with Praszkeak was probably lending their power in the process.
The contractor’s identity was almost certainly the masked man who had appeared before Epio and Clara.
The only thing left to do for recovery was to gather information inside the imperial palace and identify that man.
There really were quite a lot of MacGuffins connected to the demon worshippers.
When he thought about it… the number of MacGuffins tied to the Wiblet Empire might even reach the double digits.
Just like that, two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Finally, we headed to the banquet hall.
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