Chapter 8: First Encounter

This is a really huge city. I looked at the tall buildings as I was carried by Iridia. Dwarven housing sure is unique. Even though I said that, I haven’t really visited any human cities yet so I have nothing to compare. Now, about this city though, I know for a fact that we won’t be able to easily go through it. Not only that, the city had so many levels of stairs and paths that we had no idea were it lead. That’s why, the best thing to do is ask for directions.

“So how about it? Want to steal one of the scumbags that’s following us?”

“Hmm… I mean, it probably would be better to ask one of the guards… but I haven’t really seen any of them. At this rate, we might not have any other choices. What do you say master?”

Hmm… I absolutely have no idea

The three of us sighed. That’s because, we’ve noticed that a bunch of people have been following us. Not only that, I also felt two people following us via the roofs. This means only one thing. We’re being specifically targeted. It’s kind of stupid though. I mean, with the rumors about us and all, you would think that these guys would have a brain cell or two about trying to mess with us.

Then again, I guess it’s a development that usually happens in these types of settings. The problem is, why is it happening the very first day we arrive here?

I then looked back towards my companions. Right… I forgot that these two aren’t your average looking people. Far from it, they were probably the cutest looking girls you’ll ever see. As I said, Iridia is a beautiful girl with long blonde hair. She also had blue piercing eyes and a smile that can take away anyone’s heart. She was still wearing her crusader armor, but she left her weapons in the carriage so right now, she didn’t really seem that threatening.

Now, Rina’s beauty can be described in a different way. Just like Iridia, her hair was pretty long. The only difference is, her hair is pure black. In the sunlight, it seemed to reflect the light and gave a very lush look to her hair. Her eyes were also unique in that she had deep red eyes. Befitting of the so called princess of the underworld. Right now though, because she only wore a simple set of villager clothing, she looked like an ordinary person. Actually, she gave off the appearance that she was the weakest in our group… actually, in a sense. She is kind of the weakest in the group.

“Master, should we just avoid them?”

Yes, we should. The best thing to do is to jump through the city roof. Rina. Can you kill the two people on the roof?

“Hai”

With a smile, she instantly disappeared. Iridia and I kept walking as we waited for her back. As for the people trailing us, I felt them stop momentarily. I also felt two signals disappear from the rooftops. Nice job Rina! As if nothing ever happened, Rina appeared above us and gave the ok signal. Not missing a beat, Iridia placed me above her head, took a running start and jumped towards the roof. We didn’t stop to see the group behind us and began running through the roof. Actually, this is much easier now than before. Because we could see where we were going, it became a lot faster to move. Not only that, I could analyze the state of the city from here.

Now, first of all, the structure. Although I would say this was purely dwarven architecture at its highest, they seem to have a hint of having European influence. The reason is because, I could see a bit of a similarity with the city of Venice. Granted that I only saw pictures of Venice, I still have to say that they had a similar structure. As for defense, this city was meant to last through a siege. There were small farms everywhere. Not only that, the city seems to have productive capability as I saw steam factories all around the place. The walls were also carved into the mountain, so it’s like a natural wall that would be almost impossible to break. What’s even more is that half the city actually goes into the mountain itself. In other words, there’s an underground network of caves and caverns that the city uses for residential areas.

Now, putting aside the city itself, something did catch me as strange. There seems to be areas that are patrolled heavily by guards, while others either have a small amount or nothing at all. I wonder why? It couldn’t be that the dwarves didn’t have enough man power. It’s also impossible that this city wouldn’t have enough money to hire a huge number of guards. That’s why I’m pretty suspicious. When looking at the guards too, they didn’t seem to be the type to slack off. So why it is that part of the city had protection and patrols when another part didn’t? Truly something that I should investigate later on.

“Master, I feel several presence following us”

I looked behind us and sure enough, men with black and red mask were following after us. Some had crossbows while others had knives and daggers. Also, it seemed that they were people of various backgrounds. For one, I saw cat ears on one of them. Another had long ears. Several of them were short while one seemed to be a human.

Hmm… I really want to reach the shrine before doing anything else. Just avoid them. If you have to, knock them unconscious. It’s better if we don’t kill them off so we don’t attract any more attention.

They both nodded as we continued running through the roof. Still, these guys are annoyingly good. I saw several bolts fly past us. Actually, I redirected their aim slightly, making it look as if the man missed. Of course I saw his surprised look as he seemed to be calibrating his crossbow on the go. Wow, these guys are pretty skilled.

Another few bolts were shot at us, but like the first, I simply redirected them causing them to miss. Seeing this, the knife and dagger users were getting irritated at the bows and crossbow people who had a confused look in their faces. Still, they kept re-calibrating and kept shooting at us. As for the others, they finally caught up to Rina. One guy came behind her and slashed at her legs. To his surprise though, Rina was already in the air performing a spinning roundhouse kick. It caught the man on the face and he was knocked towards his other companions. They didn’t even try to catch him as they focused their gaze towards Rina.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“CATCH THAT WENCH FIRST”

Two dagger users finally caught up. Unlike the first, they stared at Rina first waiting for her move. Unprovoked, Rina kept her pace with Iridia who slowed down enough to catch the two in surprise. She jabbed at the first man and made him keel over. Using him as for leverage, she then twisted her entire body and kicked the other guy in the stomach. She then threw the man who was keeling over and made him fall into one of the house’s window. A shriek could be heard followed by a curse and several loud thuds.

Of course, we didn’t bother stopping as we kept our momentum. At this stage though, the men finally saw what was happening to their companions. Without a second thought, they slowed down and finally stopped pursuing us. As for Iridia and Rina, they had a somewhat accomplished look on their faces.

“Ah… another round of light exercise”

“Yeah. Well, who knows. Maybe we’ll find someone stronger later on”

You girls…

I shook my head as I realized how much of a battle junky these two were. Well, at least they were having fun. With the shrine clear in our sight, we finally left that stupid group behind. At least now, I can worry about them later.

♪ Gonna have a body, gonna have a body, gonna have a body ♪

I couldn’t help but hum that in my mind as the thought of finally having a body grew closer and closer. The two girls also felt my excitement and hummed with me. Oh, this is going to be the best day ever!

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[Stranger POV]

“So, you let them escape”

I couldn’t reply as I stared at the ground and clenched my fist in frustration. I was given the job of capturing the two girls. At first, it was the boss who led us. The problem was, we were immediately found out. The first girl disappeared and soon the second girl began to run. Not only that, she jumped to the roofs as if it were no problem. Seeing that, the boss immediately told me and the other assassins to run after them. Of course, we couldn’t say no, so we did.

What happened next was a complete defeat for my side. I thought they were just simple nobles. For one, the girl with black hair seemed weak. When we caught up to her though, she was nothing like we thought her to be. She immediately took out one of my men in an instant. In my mind, it seemed impossible. Yet there it was, a man thrown aside like a pile of garbage.

Then, the knight looking girl came in. Normally, knights and even soldiers were weak without their weapons. Especially female knights. We’ve already beaten several female knights before and the boss had his fun with them. The poor girls couldn’t even resist as their chastity were forcefully taken away from them. But this girl… she’s nothing like the female knights we’ve ever faced before. She took out two of my men with a fighting style I’ve never seen before. She was graceful and elegant, almost to the point that I couldn’t consider that a fight but instead as a dance.

I really underestimated our targets. That’s why I couldn’t say anything to the boss.

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Do you at least know where they are going?”

“Every time they were fighting, they were constantly looking at the shrine”

“Shrine? You mean the one that worships that stupid fake goddess. Ha… now I really want to break those two”

I couldn’t help but feel a small chill. Our boss is pretty ruthless when it comes to girls. Especially towards believers. He would always take them near the shrine and force himself on them as they begged for their goddess’s mercy. Of course, the other guys would also take their turn, but as for me… it felt wrong. Although I help the boss in acquiring the girls, it just doesn’t feel right when I see him break the girls in front of their patron goddess. Although they weren’t being saved, it felt as if the goddess was accumulating her hatred and is just waiting for the right moment to strike.

The same goes with the two girls earlier. I feel as if they’re part of something much greater than what we know of. First of all, two of my men were dead before we could even know. The second, our arrows were missing. They were actually missing. I don’t like to brag, but my men are known for being experts with their crossbows and bows. That’s why I was surprised to see them fumble with their weapons, always readjusting it, shooting and readjusting again. Looking at the arrows themselves, what I noticed is that before the arrows reach their target, they slightly shift to the side. If that’s not divine protection, then what else could it be?

“Well, no matter. Gather up the men. We have a shrine to visit”

“Wait boss, you can’t mean to say that were attacking the shrine”

The boss began to laugh.

“Attack… no my friend, it’s just going to be a slight visit. Also, can you do a job for me?”

He took out a sketch of a girl with two guards.

“Capture her and the two guards. Rough them up a bit will ya before bringing them to me. As for the girl, she’s mine”

Licking his lips, the boss started to look towards the shrine. As for me, I couldn’t help but feel something terrible was going to happen. Regardless, I did what the boss said and quickly left to capture the girl.

Please forgive me goddess Arian…

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Author Notes:

I actually have nothing to say lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be done before the end of the day so you can expect something good.