“So, Claris… How are those three then? Are they doing better today?”

“Well… Laun wasn’t as dependent as the other two so she’s over the worst of it. Kyre, her sister, is still in Laun’s care and Dona… she’s pretty far gone…”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Her mind has… changed significantly… We tried talking to her but she doesn’t respond to us that well… I just hope this isn’t permanent. I didn’t even know that Dead Snow could do something like that but… she was given a lot of it…”

“Shit…”

Ajax and Claris talk in Ajax’s room. Hila and one of the girls named Oitra are in the adjacent room and the rest of the girls are in a room two doors over.

Laun is taking care of her older sister Kyre and their friend Grenwiliu is watching over the three in that room. Even though Laun is functioning very well, it’s better to be safe; Grenwiliu is sober after all, never having been forced to partake.

All three rooms are located on the second floor of the inn with a staircase nearby.

“Sigh… Shaula probably won’t be back for a while… I hope she finds out where this guy is quickly…”

“...Could you not mention what she’s doing at the moment… you’re just going to make me even more nervous, Ajax...”

“Haha, well, I’ll try to… Huh?”

Ajax hears something. The sound of footsteps. Customers? No… There are a lot more people than the inn should be expecting at this hour.

“What’s wrong? Is there--”

“Shh, just hold on, Claris, I’m trying to listen to something.”

Ajax continues listening to the footsteps. Multiple pairs are walking, too many to reasonably guess their exact numbers. He sharpens his hearing to listen for a conversation.

He hears it…

“So… how much do you think I’ll get for this tip?”

“...Why are you asking us?”

“W-Well, I’ve never even seen Brai before so I don’t know what he’ll give me for something like this.”

“I imagine it won’t be a low amount. But only if they’re really here.”

“I’m sure of it! The owner said that they haven't left since getting here a few days ago. One of the beastkin whores left three times to get groceries, but that’s all!”

Ajax stops listening to the conversation. Whoever they are, they’re looking for beastkin women and they’re walking towards the second floor. They’ve almost reached the stairs.

They mentioned a woman who went out for groceries earlier. Probably Hila… She did leave a few times to get some food for everyone. These guys must be here for us then.

Ajax also notices that the man talking didn’t notice Shaula leave. The reason for that is fairly obvious, since she left through this room’s window rather than from the front door. Or… perhaps he wasn’t even watching her, perhaps he’s just here for the women?

Could that be possible? Regardless… Now's the time to move!

“Claris, grab Hila and Oitra from the room next door and go to the room with the rest of the girls!”

“Wh-What? What’s wrong?”

“Claris, no time to explain! Just hurry!”

Ajax speaks forcefully with authority; his expression somewhat reveals his desperation however. Claris complies.

“O-Ok, I’ll get them!”

“Once all of you girls are gathered, barricade the door with anything you can find so nobody can get in! Try to escape through the window!”

Claris nods in affirmation; she runs out the door.

All three rooms have wooden window openings that can be opened and closed with shutters; an inn in a slum like this wouldn’t be able to afford amenities like window panes.

These second floor rooms definitely wouldn’t comply with safety regulations back in his own world but it might be possible to escape through those makeshift emergency exit windows.

It should be fairly simple to leave through there for the girls who are sober. But, the escape will be extended while the girls try to carefully escort their companions still going through withdrawal.

Sigh… I’ll have to hold these guys off as long as possible while they escape. It’ll be hard not to kill any of them in the meantime.

Ajax prepares himself for the confrontation as the men finally reach the entrance to the stairs that will lead up to the second floor of the inn.

Claris quickly calls Hila and Oitra from their room and escorts them to the third room. Ajax hears them all safely arrive in the third room. Hila moves quickly without even thinking, preparing herself to deal with this crisis. Oitra is annoyed. Grenwiliu is in panic.

Laun wakes Kyre up; she awakens in a daze. Dona doesn’t say anything. Ajax does hear Dona’s heart beat faster though.

Hm. Perhaps, it’s just her inability to express herself? I’ll have to protect her long enough to find out if she can be helped.

The girls barricade the door with some furniture and then with the room’s bed after getting Dona and Kyre off of them.

Then, just to be extra careful, Ajax listens to the street past the window of their room. It’s night time and luckily he can’t hear anybody walking the streets. Not a sound can be heard. He looks for any human scents along with scents of armour and there are no fresh ones out there.

Ok… So, it doesn’t seem like the girls can be ambushed by escaping through the windows. All I have to do now is deal with these guys while the girls escape…

Ajax leaves his room and closes the door behind him. He looks to his right, where the stairs are. He sees ten men walk up the stairs. He looks at the man who accompanied them.

The man is an employee to the inn that Ajax noticed briefly when he first came here. A man who is currently talking to one of the ten men who he escorted.

The man notices Ajax. He sneers. Ajax is only reminded of a rat. Both by how this man is currently selling out the women and through his whole cowardly demeanour.

The man quickly scurries away as the ten men lay their eyes on Ajax for the first time. Ajax looks at each of them as quickly as possible. He tries to guess at their intent, although it should be obvious.

These men are probably here because of that man, Inalim, who Shaula had killed a few days ago. Ajax had expected some reprisal for the actions they both had taken but barely five days had passed. He and Shaula were found so easily.

Ajax is more than a little tense.

But… how? How did they find us so quickly!? This… This is too soon, isn’t it!? Nobody even saw us when we killed him!! Maybe… Are they just here for the women?

Ajax currently stands in the hallway preventing the men from moving down to the room where the girls are, as they attempt to escape through the room window.

“Hm. I suppose this must be the human man that Plenty mentioned.”

One of the men speaks, a man at the front of the ten with blonde hair, wearing light armour, a sword attached to his waist. Ajax remembers the name the man mentioned. Plenty…

Ok… Now it makes more sense… They’re here for me and Shaula. Fuck… I should have stopped that woman when I had the chance! The little mistakes… It’s always the little fucking mistakes…

Ajax sighs. Some of the men clutch the hilts of their long swords, still kept in their scabbards on their hips. They have been told about the danger that the mysterious human man and woman supposedly exhibit. Ajax speaks.

“So… Who are you guys?”

“Well, we’re some of Brai Drumyl’s ‘enforcers’… We heard from a very gracious employee of this fine establishment that there were some beastkin women hiding here with two humans accompanying them.”

“...Hiding? What do you mean exactly?”

Ajax speaks calmly while trying his best to hide the tension he feels. He doesn’t want to kill them.

He doesn’t want to have to kill any of them…

“You don’t have to play ignorant, you little bastard… We know that the human woman among your group killed Inalim Drumyl.”

“...I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no human woman here…”

The blonde man laughs and smiles towards him. He knocks his head as if to say ‘How stupid of me!’

“Ah. I see, I see! Draw your weapons, men.”

One by one, each of the ten men draw their weapons including the blonde man. Six of them wield swords. Three of them hold large, combat knives. One of them in the back prepares for battle without drawing anything at all.

“Wh-What are you doing!? I told you! I don’t know what you’re talking about, what’s your problem!?”

The blonde man’s lips curve into a wide grin.

“Well, we’d like to see that for ourselves. If you’re really not who we think you are, then just get out of our way while we explore those rooms behind you… If you can’t do it, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut you down.”

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Ajax feels the killing intent coming from them. Of course, he doesn’t really believe that these men could hurt him but… they could certainly hurt the girls if he cannot prevent them from passing.

Ajax sighs.

“...Huh?”

One of the men notices something. He can see his breath now. The air has gotten colder all of a sudden.

Each of the men cautiously observes Ajax who stands with no sign of defending himself. He doesn’t seem to be reacting to the sudden cold. The obvious reason for that is...

“Do you really want to do this right now? Do you think you can win against me?”

Ajax speaks with as confident an act as he can muster. In truth, he’s worried about the ways that this fight with these men could play out. He tries to hide his anxiety.

“Men… long range, slice him down.”

“Roger.”

Each of the men imbue power into their swords. Ajax notices one by one as their swords start glowing red. Not a glow of heat but a glow… of magic.

“Yoltri Mei! Slice!”

Each of the men slice the air with their glowing blades. They haven’t moved towards Ajax at all. Their swords don’t even attempt to hit him directly. However, in an instant, their blades produce projectiles of fire that shoot towards Ajax.

As if sword slices made of fire were shot directly at his body. Multiple fire attacks launch. Ajax however…

“...Wh-What!?”

Ajax doesn’t take a single step forwards; he doesn’t even try to dodge. His clothes aren’t even burnt. Taking advantage of his high agility and his reflexes, he used his hands to touch the slices of fire. He absorbs their heat, dissipating them instantly.

He is careful to make sure that the fire doesn’t touch the walls, ceiling or floor of this hallway. That would be a bad outcome since this inn is made of cheap wood with parts of it already starting to rot. The fact that they sent fire attacks in his direction though…

They’re confident they can hit him without burning down the place, or perhaps they don’t care if the place burns down so long as they can kill the people who might be responsible for Inalim’s death.

Or… maybe they’re complete fucking morons.

Ajax smiles. The men in front of him feel trepidation. They weren’t expecting this…

A few of the men among the group realize how formidable Ajax is as an opponent. Without any sign of incantation, without any preparation, he instantly destroyed the magical created fire slice projectiles.

Additionally, they consider how he turned the hallway cold without warning or sign of action. He must be an extremely powerful ice mage.

Ajax examines his opponents. For a moment, he smiles almost confident in his victory. But he notices. The very men who have noticed his strength. They observe him without their expressions changing. He notices four of them.

People who Ajax can only imagine to be well trained warriors. The rest of the men show fear on their faces. Two of them are even trembling.

But those four…

If… If I let my guard down then… then they’ll get past me… if I miss any of their moves for even an instant… the women could be taken hostage. Those four aren’t even moving. They’re letting the others fight me first so that they can see any holes in my combat style.

Ajax hears them whispering something under their breath. An incantation in an unknown language. Much like the spells that the men had made to produce the fire attacks.

However, Ajax cannot recognize what the spells are supposed to do because of the language barrier.

He only knows that when he lets his guard down, they’ll do something unfavourable.

The smallest mistakes. I’ll be defeated by the smallest mistakes again. But… Jesus Christ, I’ve been too foolish. Even now, I’m fighting these guys with intent to capture or stop them. I’m trying as hard as I can not to kill them. But… if I’m not careful then… then the girls will die instead.

Ajax resolves himself. He’s not going to seek to kill them. But… if they should die from his attacks because he refuses to hold back… then, that will be a tolerable outcome. Without Shaula there to watch his back and take care of his blindspots…

The men before Ajax stop moving. They notice a change in Ajax’s demeanor. He’s made a decision. Regarding what, they have no idea.

“...I am going to offer you all a choice. If… and only if, you walk away from this place and not look back… I will let you all go. There’ll be no hard feelings. You don’t have to meet me again…”

The men look at him not fully understanding why all of a sudden Ajax is getting all solemn and serious. In an instant, he made their magic attacks meaningless. Why is he getting only more careful? Why is he…

No… he’s not just serious. He’s desperate. As if he’s trying to get them to leave while he holds back a rabid beast. The man with the blonde hair can tell that Ajax is not one to enjoy killing. He must detest it even.

“...But… if you face me… I c-can’t hold myself back. If you die… then that will be your own fault. I o-offered you mercy. I g-gave you your way out. Will you… Will you still fight me?”

“...What’s with you, you brat? Why in the fuck are you getting so full of yourself? You really think you’ll take care of all of us just like that? Aren’t you getting too confident?”

One of the men, a man with auburn hair responds to Ajax. The man with blonde hair thinks twice however about whether Ajax is speaking empty threats. Ajax smiles in true fear and misery.

“T-This is actually me acknowledging you as threats to me. I… I don’t want to kill you! Y-You’re all… you’re all human beings… you’ve… you’ve lived f-for decades, growing into men from the little babies you once were. You all came from fathers and mothers who might love you... Y-You have the potential to… to raise kids of your own… some of you might even be parents already, I don’t know! And… And if you fight me while I’m trying to protect my friends… I will… I’ll be responsible for taking all of your future aspirations away from you… Your lives… Is that what you want? To die here? To die for this? I… I don’t want to kill you...”

The men stop speaking; even the men who were silently chanting incantations fall silent. They can see… he’s truly a child. Some of them… start to think twice about their objective. Some of them almost start to feel bad.

But… his words… they’re meaningless. Are they willing to turn their backs on their comrades? To face the wrath of Brai and risk being hunted down themselves? Don’t they have families of their own to feed? Don’t they want more of the pleasure they seek?

Don’t they wish to trample over his life to improve their own.

Are you going to abandon it all for the flowery words of a mere boy?

The blonde man looks at his comrades. They ready their weapons; their faces are tense and they are extremely cautious. They think that the boy is delicate, a sentimental fool perhaps… but they cannot take his words as mere bluster. He’s… powerful.

Ajax acknowledges that they won’t turn back.

“...I-I tried to stop you… I offered you… I told you to leave… and now…”

Ajax increases his time perception by utilizing the recently absorbed energy he obtained from the heat in the hallway; he moves this energy towards enhancing his kinetic vision.

The motions of the men appear more clear to him, their intent almost obvious. Enough to give him an advantage.

The blonde man has run up to right in front of him; he learned that fire attacks wouldn’t work so he’s holding his sword preparing to cut him down with a downward slice. Ajax can see the fear in his eyes.

Two of the men are to Ajax’s left, attacking him in tandem, one man running in front of the other. Four of the men prepare more fire magic while in a diagonal arrangement on his right; they haven’t learned their lesson or perhaps they think they can get Ajax while he’s distracted.

The other four… the difficult ones… the ones who could pose a threat. They’re behind these six men, still preparing their magic. Ajax cannot even discern the strategy they’ll use because his knowledge of magic is severely lacking.

Ajax quickly dodges to the left side of the blonde man. The man sliced thin air as Ajax merely avoided his useless strike. Ajax uses his right hand to push the man’s head to the right side.

The bones in the man’s neck snap with a loud noise.

The man falls to the ground gurgling. He is unable to stand; he dies in seconds. Ajax didn’t even intend to kill him, he simply pushed his neck to the right. Just like how he pushed the door to open Inalim’s room when he first met Hila.

The blonde man was simply that weak. He falls, but his sword doesn’t. Ajax holds the blonde man’s long sword in his right hand now. He doesn’t stop to think about what he’s just done so easily.

If he does… he might fail at the moment of truth.

Ajax throws the long sword in the direction of the two men to his left, one in front of the other. The sword spins like a pinwheel and slices through the right side of the first man’s chest.

It cuts through the front of his ribcage, through the man’s right lung, and then through the back of his ribcage, it exits. Its momentum is altered somewhat and it stops spinning but continues flying. It aims right and true, right into the second man’s stomach.

The second man is impaled through his stomach, clean through. The first man had been killed instantly. The second man is agonizing in pain as blood pours from his wound. The sword has severed his abdominal aorta. He will die in minutes.

Ajax continues moving. He doesn’t think about it. He observes the four men in the back while continuing to move towards his right. He can still prevent their attack if he rushes them quickly enough, regardless of what the attack may be.

Three of the men have unchanging expressions. Professionals of the highest calibre. How many men have died at their hands? The fourth man is… older than the rest of them.

In his late forties… his face is fairly composed. However, unlike the other three, his face betrays an egotistical nature. As if even now, he considers himself to be on another level compared to Ajax.

Ajax, rather than running directly to the four men in the back, runs towards the four other men on his right, who are preparing what Ajax guesses to be more of the fire magic spells.

Right now, their faces show desperation at what Ajax has just done in the span of a few seconds.

Fools… You should have run.

Ajax strikes the first of these four with his closed fist. The light armour he’s wearing isn’t as weak as Ajax had assumed. But, nevertheless, the man’s ribcage caves in and his heart shuts down, unable to withstand Ajax’s tremendous strength.

“Yoltri--”

This man is knocked into one of the other three men whose fire magic spell is disrupted. Ajax quickly stomps on the now fallen man’s right hip bone, shattering it. Then, he stomps again on this man’s chest, collapsing his right lung.

The man struggles with unthinkable pain as he clutches his lower body and chest. He gasps for breath for a few seconds before he passes out from the pain.

Ajax runs up to the third man among the four to his right and picks him up by both ankles with both of his hands. Then, he swings the man almost like a baseball bat, hitting the fourth man from above right on his head.

When both men collide, they die instantly as their bones shatter, their muscles tear and their heads concuss beyond repair. Ajax treats them like giant ragdolls and then leaves them.

He now focuses on the last four. The three younger men raise their hands towards him. They aim an attack at his face. Ajax cannot dodge this.

So, he once again picks up the body of the dead man he had used as a weapon by his back armour to defend himself. The man is bisected vertically.

“Wh-What!?”

Ajax is shocked. The attack doesn’t reach Ajax but it does cut through his human shield vertically through his head, down to his pelvis. The air of the hallway is filled with the entrails of the man, now certainly dead.

Partially digested food and shit spill from the shield’s stomach and intestines, his blood flowing profusely.

Ajax feels nauseous at the sight and the smell, he hasn’t turned off his sense of smell for this battle. But, he can’t take his attention away. Ajax sprints towards the three younger men. Their expressions are fearless, almost uncaring of his actions.

Ajax almost touches one of them when--

“...Oh. Fuck.”

Ajax falls to the ground. The attack just fired by one of the men is a kind of magic he has never seen before. An invisible force that slices through the air. Ajax felt a slight gust surrounding this force.

While Ajax cannot put it together right now, the three men are using wind magic. He might have been able to figure it out himself if not for the fact that the wind magic attack just now had separated his lower body from his upper body.

Ajax is lying face down as blood exits his body in copious amounts; enough for the men to believe that Ajax has died. His legs fall right next to his upper body. Then--

“Watch out!”

Ajax leaps forward using only his arms and grabs the left leg of the man closest to him. His healing factor prevents even an injury like this from harming him or making his fall unconscious. Though he does feel the pain of it, which is why he--

“CONSUME!!!!”

The man who Ajax just grabbed, one of the three wind magic users, is instantly frozen. The other two men and the older man retreat down the hallway.

Meanwhile, Ajax consciously pauses the regeneration of his lower legs. He hasn’t tried this yet but he moves to where his lower half is. He uses his right arm to gather his detached legs. He moves them closer to his hips. He is hoping for…

Yes! Even if they’re cut off, they can just reattach!

It’s less energy intensive to attach a pair of perfectly good legs attached to a waist and hip rather than grow a whole new one. Faster too.

Now, Ajax is in one piece again and he can continue fighting.

He rises to his feet as he observes the two remaining wind magic users and the older man. The older man’s eyes, which had earlier been filled with a pomposity, look at Ajax with interest.

He wasn’t expecting such perfect restoration along with the ice magic. Is it healing magic?

“Well… How interesting…”