Chapter 18 – 18. Tracking

The red-haired woman introduced herself as Elesis.

“You seem to be a skilled hunter.”
“Not really…….”
“Even though you caught so many monsters?”
“It is, but…….”

Only believedly, I realized that she was extremely suspicious. Didn’t you say that she was a merchant’s daughter? Since ancient times, a merchant’s daughter shouldn’t be questioned like this.

While the merchant and even the village chief, who had known each other, noticed Elesis, it wasn’t unusual for them to be suspicious of her approaching with a strangely friendly approach.

“Hey, so- how much can you give me?”
“Ah! I forgot to count! Please.”

As if it was natural, Elesis handed the backpack to the merchant standing behind her. It was as if he was dealing with someone below him.

As much as he was born and raised in the Eastern Kingdom of Courtesy, he had no choice but to frown upon seeing it. Is there no etiquette in this world? Not likely. If you think about the attitude of the villagers towards the village chief…….

So, the woman in front of me was unusual- the fact that even though she acted like that, no one took issue with it meant that she was that special.

‘Daughter of the top lord…… I don’t think it’s like that, and I’m not a noble either.’

She covered it up with thick clothes, but looking at the forearm muscles and calves that are often exposed through the clothes, you can tell that she has a fairly well-trained body.

It was a thick body for a woman. As if it were filled with stones…….

Even though she was a woman, her body was trained, her behavior as if she were interrogating customers, the bewildered merchant and village headman——with just this amount of information, it wasn’t too difficult to realize who she was.

‘Article…… There is no reason for a knight to be in a place like this, so a paladin.’

It reminds me of the paladin I saw in the city. The paladin who was a follower of witches and killed people and smiled brightly.

Is the woman in front of me like that? I couldn’t tell. What is certain is…… I am now in a very dangerous situation.

“Hey, did you say Charles?”
“…… This is John.”
“Ah-! Mr. John. Is John a hunter?”
“Similar.”
“Hey, you’re a hunter…….”

Her eyes scan my entire body. It was mostly palm. Of course, a trained hunter and knight had no calluses.

And Elesis pointed out that.

“By the way, how are your hands so clean? IM jealous…… I manage it myself, but it breaks like this…….”

As she said that, she naturally took my hand. The moment she grabbed her hand, something thrilling ran through her palm.

When I removed my hand in surprise, she tilted her head and asked what was going on.

“…… No, just- electrified.”
“This. It looks like the weather is very dry.”

That’s what I said, but I realized she was cheating on something. What was it? Since it was a different world with magic, I didn’t know what the paladins could do.

But, fortunately- Elesis began to pay attention as if she had no interest in me after holding her palms together.

‘What the hell… ?’

Just when I was vigilant about what I had done, a merchant who had settled the items in my backpack approached me with a money bag.

“Come on, come on – here. It’s the price.”
“Ah—thank you.”
“Do you need anything? There are quite a few usable things on our upper end…….”
“No, thanks.”

I wanted to leave this place right away, so after receiving the money bag, I quickly turned my back and got out of their side.

After quickly getting out of town out of sight of them, I quickly ran away.

Hurry up, I had to tell Master about this.

* * *

After John left the village, Elesis stared at his back and looked down at his palm.

‘Surely the divine power worked…….’

It is said that the divine power she sent flowed through John’s hand. If John had been a witch disguised as a man, or if he had been a witch’s familiar——the disguise would have been removed and his true self revealed.

But John didn’t. In other words, it meant that John was neither a witch nor a familiar.

‘I caught that many monsters?’

However, she still couldn’t shake her doubts. The corpses of high-quality monsters with one small hole pierced – this was not a skill that ordinary hunters could show.

It was a skill that could only be seen by the commander of the Royal Knights of a fairly large kingdom or the archbishop-level paladins of a church.

She didn’t think that such a talented person would be holding monsters in a place like this.

‘Above all-they look similar to the corpses the village chief showed us…… He must have caught these corpses as well.’

Elesis, so convinced, decided to pursue John and summoned his men from the valley below.

When lightly armed soldiers stormed the village, the village chief ran to her, asking what the hell was going on.

“Well, we did nothing wrong… !”
“Done. I have nothing to do with this town.”

Of course, if it is revealed that Johann is a follower of the witch or related to the witch, this village will have to be annihilated as well. But not yet.

Elesis hid the fact and reassured the village chief, then asked about John’s destination.

“Tell me where that man has gone. Right Now.”
“Yo, are you talking about John?”
“Okay.”

The village chief immediately pointed out where John was heading. That there is a cabin halfway in the woods, and that they live there.

Hearing the news that he left the village and was living alone in the forest, Elesis stepped into the forest with even more suspicion.

Following the footsteps of John, who had just been taken…….

* * *

“Master Emong! It’s a big deal!”
“Ah, John. You’ve been there. What’s going to happen?”

When I ran to Master, throwing an earth-style joke, Master tuned it to the right rhythm even though she did not know what the joke meant.

As Master stroked my hair, I explained what I had seen in the village. The suspicious merchant’s daughter and her suspicious behavior.

Evangeline, who had been quietly listening to the explanation, asked me with a hard face.

“…… John.”
“Yes, Master.”
“That daughter and I. Who is prettier?”
“…… Master, this is not the time to play around. If it’s a real paladin, it’s a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal—”

Hearing that, Evangeline burst into laughter. Margaret, who was spying on what was going on next to her, laughed the same way.

When I tilted my head, unable to understand why, Master smiled and stroked my hair.

“You disrespect your master too much. John.”
“…… No, weren’t you hiding in a forest like this because you were afraid of fighting the Paladins?”
“Are you afraid, what is it? John, do you avoid shit because you’re afraid? Avoid it because it’s dirty. Those guys are real cockroaches.”

Shit, cockroaches. Hearing that story, if nothing else, he knew that Master had a really bad relationship with the Paladins and the Church.

However, even seeing Master so confident, I couldn’t be relieved.

“…… Master is a witch, so no matter how she tries to escape, I’m not.”

Compared to the two witches who possess the strongest magic, I am just an ordinary person who has awakened to magical power. I don’t have the confidence to win even if I fight with a genital love that can’t use magic.

Magical power doesn’t make me like Superman, and it’s not as good as Captain America – how can I beat the knights, who were called human weapons even on Earth, in a fantasy world?

“John.”
“…… Yes, Master.”
“Even if I’m caught by the church and burned at the stake, I won’t let you die.”
“…… Master.”
“And- in case something like that happens, you have him, right?”

As she said that, she pointed at Margaret, who was quietly watching from the side. When she pointed at herself, the startled Margaret hesitated for a moment, then nodded and shouted to trust only herself.

Certainly, as long as the two witches were there, I didn’t have to worry about dying.

“…… But, what if they follow me?”
“Don’t worry about that either. Do you know what the name of this forest is, John?”
“No, what is it?”

Master, who aroused my curiosity, told me about the secret of this forest.

“Forest of Demons.”

Territory of the Wolf King, Fenrir.
It was a land of monsters not allowed to humans.

* * *

Elesis, who was chasing after John with his soldiers, found the monsters roaming around the forest as if they were their own house, and frowned.

‘Did you just enter this place?’

Since this is an army, there was a higher chance of being caught by monsters than going into the woods alone. No matter how it is, the frequency of encounters with monsters has been too high since earlier.

A monster appeared every ten steps, so Elesis couldn’t figure out how John got through this forest. It was enough to suspect that John was related to witches just by looking at the results.

“Stop! Keep them away!”

And the military was not a very good group to act in a place like this. Since it is a group of more than dozens of people, one or two monsters are not too scary. Even if dozens of them attack at the same time, they can overcome it in the end.

However, after dealing with such a monster, there were always injured people. In the current situation of chasing people, the existence that literally catches the ankle continues to appear.

Even in the midst of that, the monster continues to attack endlessly. It is an indescribably gigantic achievement in terms of exchange cost alone, but in the end, only one-sided consumption is forced on this side.

‘Mistake…… Was it?’

He said that he lived in a cabin in the forest, so he never expected that there would be so many monsters. It was too late to go back now. There were too many wounded soldiers.

Elesis keenly sensed the fact that her judgment was wrong, and felt death.

“Eh, Sir Elesis!”

Hearing the soldier’s cry, Elesis raised her head and looked ahead. A wolf the size of a house appeared.

It is a monster that even the military cannot easily deal with. Sensing this fact, Elesis told her adjutant her.

“…… I’ll stop you here, so run away.”
“Yes!? What is that…….”
“The faster you run away, the more likely you are to survive.”

Having said that, Elesis drew her sword and stepped forward.
Well, it would give the soldiers enough time to escape.

“I am a paladin. Do you think you will lose to this monster?”
“…… If so, please stay alive!”

As the adjutant retreated to the village with his soldiers her, Elesis charged at the monster.

* * *

“…… Mr. Fenrir, who is this?”
[Suddenly, I swung my forepaw and passed out…….]

I laughed out loud as I looked at Elesis Fenrir carried. As expected, the paladin is right.

I didn’t mind leaving the fainting person alone, so I went into the cabin with Elesis.