TL: xLordFifth
ED:
Rustle- Rustle-!
As Shin Nara, undeterred, swung her sword to regain her senses, a bush some distance away from her and Petyr rustled. Someone was emerging from it.
Both Nara and Petyr’s eyes widened simultaneously.
Nara: Leeha-ssi, Petyr-
“Kekek, so we should give them their favorite food-“
“Shh!”
Leeha put his finger to the lips of a hound paleo in front of him.
“Phew, what are you doing!”“Shh, shh!”
Putting his hand over the mouth of the shape-shifting beast and shushing them like animals? This disrespectful act immediately decreased their affinity, but Leeha had no time to worry about that.
‘Petyr…? Could it be?’
Leeha: Nara-ssi?! Nara-ssi! Stall Petyr, I’ll be there soon!
The urgently called name, and the sudden cut-off of the whisper.
Despite Leeha’s anxious call, there was no response from Shin Nara. That alone was enough for Leeha to understand everything.
“You, you, if you keep doing this-“
“Sorry! I’ll make it up to you next time with something delicious! Puol! Blaugrunn-ssi! Let’s go, quickly!”
“Kwiit?! Kwiiiiit-!”
[Kyuu? Kyukyukyu!]
Suddenly, Leeha leaped onto the puol’s back, grabbing its mane as if to tear it out, and kicked its side. It was a blatant act of disloyalty to his pet, but fortunately, puol did not throw him off.
Kwiiit-!
The puol immediately sped up.
Blaugrunn, not understanding what was happening, clung to Leeha, crying out with a Kyuukyuu- sound.
“This way! This way! Faster! As fast as possible!”
“Kuiiiiiii——-!”
Even amidst this chaos, Leeha checked his friend’s list and pinpointed Nara’s location. A place he had marked on his map, on the way to the bull paleo village.
‘But why is Petyr there? Was he following Nara?’
Why follow her? The timing was odd.
Nara had been alone for several days already. If he was following her, why not strike at a more opportune moment? Why suddenly ambush her now after passing up so many chances?
‘There were so many opportunities. To pass them all up, and even future ones – No, that would mean he spent all five days of the expedition team’s advantage just tailing Nara, which would be insane, right?’
Despite finding it strange, Leeha had to accept it.
‘Yeah, that’s real madness…’
It was clear that Petyr wasn’t in his right mind. Leeha bit her lip and urged Fuols on.
The land of the dog paleos.
The emerald-glowing land was now behind them, and Shin Nara’s location was getting closer.
‘But it’ll still take at least 30 minutes. Damn, should I have just told her about the dog paleos first?’
The bull paleos were easier to gain affinity with, but their village was quite far from the dog paleo tribe. Even with Puol’s incredible speed, it would take another 30 minutes to reach where Nara was.
After breaking through the forest in front of them, running a little more through the meadow, and then entering another forest, Nara would be there.
“Run, run!”
Rustle-rustle-!
Fuols was faster than a car and as agile as a motorcycle. Even in the densely packed forest, he maintained his speed without much reduction.
[Kyuu, kyuuu!]
“Be patient, Blaugrunn-ssi! The twigs won’t scratch you, even if your scales are only of the hatchling-class!”
[Kyuuuu…]
Leeha’s face was also being struck by branches as they passed, so it was understandable that Blaugrunn was being fussy.
Just as they were about to break through the first forest, a shadow suddenly sprang out from the edge of the woods.
“Kwiiiiiiiiek———–!”
“Ah!”
Startled by the sudden stop, Leeha was flung forward, airborne for a moment. Fortunately, they were at the edge of the forest, so he didn’t hit any trees but rolled on the gravelly meadow.
“Ugh… what now?”
Though he didn’t take any damage thanks to Jellypong, Leeha was frustrated by the sudden interruption. The shadow that had jumped out was a user she recognized.
“Oh my, oh my, are you okay, Leeha-ssi?”
“Chiyou..?”
Chiyou was there.
“Are you alright?”
Chiyou looked genuinely concerned as she tried to help Leeha up.
However, Leeha didn’t accept her hand, instead choosing to get up on his own, retreating a bit from Chiyou.
‘Why are you here, Chiyou? This is… in the Erika Continent, and this is far from the Red Woods!’
“Why- why are you here…”
“Me? I got lost and have been wandering around. Is there a village nearby? Oh! Where were you going, Leeha-ssi? Is that a mount? Did you tame it?”
“No, uh…”
Despite Leeha clearly showing her wish to maintain distance, Chiyou didn’t back off but rather pressed on with more questions, trying to stick close to Leeha.
Leeha found Chiyou’s behavior baffling. Just wandering around because she was lost?
‘It’s a lie. She’s lying.’
Chiyou’s natural expression, looking relieved to find someone she knew, shouldn’t be trusted.
Leeha turned away without a word.
Chiyou stopped her from mounting Fuols by grabbing her arm. Leeha was startled.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, did I startle you? Sorry. I asked you some questions, and you didn’t answer, so I thought you didn’t hear me…”
“I heard you. But I am under no obligation to answer.”
“Why are you getting angry? I’m not your enemy, Leeha-ssi. I was just curious about what you did during these precious 5 days…”
Chiyou’s voice trailed off, her face looking tearful.
Leeha’s sharp expression softened slightly at her acting.
‘Damn, she’s always so timely – too timely.’
Leeha hadn’t completely let her guard down around Chiyou. If an opportunity arose, she would be willing to talk with Chiyou, not out of friendliness but to probe for information.
‘If we talked here, I might get clues about what she’s been doing, her identity.’
But Leeha couldn’t do that now.
Leeha gave a slight bow to Chiyou and turned again.
“I’m very curious about what you did during these 5 days too, Chiyou-ssi, but unfortunately, I can’t talk right now.”
“Oh, why? Oh, you were on your way somewhere, weren’t you? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to- no, I don’t even have time to explain that to you.”
“If you can’t tell me where you’re going, then maybe why you’re going? It’s so vast here, and I feel so lost wandering alone, Leeha-ssi.”
Chiyou was indeed Chiyou.
‘I understand your intention. I’m not trying to detain a busy person,’ her polite demeanor was clear enough for anyone to grasp.
But the reason for her interest in Leeha was not simple.
Chiyou’s interest, analysis, and desire to potentially recruit Leeha were natural, and there were other reasons too.
Chiyou: Petyr, haven’t you finished yet? I can’t keep Leeha occupied any longer.
It was to extend the time given to Petyr.
How Petyr appeared before Shin Nara and how Chiyou emerged in front of Leeha remained mysteries. While their mutual pursuit of targets was a priority, it was no easy task. The nimble and widely active Three Musketeers and Shin Nara, who traveled around paleo villages and other areas and focused on forming NPC relationships, were followed by Petyr and Chiyou. Nara occasionally noticed Chiyou, but her ‘enemy’ was only Petyr. Chiyou was a subject of caution, but not of significant importance unless she showed strange behavior.
As for the Three Musketeers, they were so engrossed in their competition that they couldn’t focus on their surroundings. Moreover, Petyr wasn’t an easy user to detect. If he chose to stealthily follow without attacking, identifying him was difficult.
Petyr’s appearance before Nara today was simple. Since he had been at the gorilla paleo tribe, Chiyou couldn’t pinpoint Nara’s location. So, he waited for her to surface.
Petyr, diligently following Leeha, inferred Nara’s movements from Leeha’s, guessing where she might head next.
All this was foreseen once the masters of information gathering and analysis joined forces.
‘Damn fool… Still hasn’t dealt with Nara? If he couldn’t kill her in this time, he shouldn’t have promised.’ Petyr had boasted he could kill her in under 10 minutes.
Chiyou, enacting the plan to cling to Leeha’s legs, hoped to impose a ‘debt’ on Petyr for future convenience. However, with no whisper from Petyr, Chiyou grew anxious.
Leeha was already mounting Fuols, clearly suspicious of Chiyou.
‘Maybe I should let her go? If Petyr has already finished off Nara and disappeared, but if I let her go too soon, I might get entangled in this mess-‘
Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted from the distant forest.
“What- What’s that?!”
“Gak!”
[Kyuu, kyukyu!]
A pillar of fire shot up through the upper layers of the forest and into the sky, visible even from where Leeha and Chiyou stood. Leeha remembered seeing such a skill before.
‘Kuzgunak’sh – No, that can’t be- I must go!’
Leeha spurred puol into action.
“Ha, Leeha-ssi! What was that sound-“
Chiyou’s pig-like cries were drowned out by puols’ quiieek! as Leeha zoomed away.
“…Tch. So much for that plan. But what was that explosion? Does Petyr have such high-level fire skills?”
Chiyou’s demeanor changed instantly from the tearful, startled girl to a calculating figure.
“Hmm… No, no. Considering Petyr hasn’t finished off Nara yet… probably some unexpected variable. Poor Petyr, hope he’s not too surprised. Might be logging out after a long time, huh?”
Chiyou had already concluded Petyr’s ‘failure’ as a fact, secretly hoping for his definite failure or even death. If Petyr had killed Nara too, more opportunities would arise, but it was too late for that. So, what had Chiyou gained during the expedition team’s advantage period?
“Five days and all I have is this indistinguishable animal? Sigh… Well, if Leeha really used that pig as a mount… I can extract all her recent movements and itinerary. That’s valuable enough.”
A small system window was visible in her view, indicating the success of her skill “Charm’s Gaze” and the information about its target.
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