After wiping out three garbage mobs with Banish, I gave her dried meat and tea and listened to her story.
Her name was Kika. Seventeen years old. A sixth-rank delver. Brown hair and brown eyes.
She was a common human, just like me — kind of plain-looking.
Her armor had been destroyed and her clothes were torn, so she was wearing the robe I'd given her.
She'd apparently only recently become a delver due to financial troubles. That was pretty common.
She was affiliated with the clan Water Arwis through some connection.
"So, about me — I'm a member of the party Hummingbird."
"Then why are you alone...?"
"...We were on a job when we were suddenly ambushed by a group. I managed to put up a fight, but we were all captured. Then they handed me off to those guys just now, saying I was useless."
"Useless?"
"Probably because I don't have a Relic. That's what they said."
They were only targeting Relic holders?
Was there someone on their side who had a Relic or a legendary and could detect who else had Relics?
"Then we need to go help them right away!"
I didn't know what their goal was, but I couldn't just sit around.
"U-Um..."
"Are those guys up ahead?"
"Yes. But there were quite a few of them, plus a really powerful Relic user I've never seen before! And there were third-rank and second-rank delvers too! I've seen them before. Those people... they're from the clan Nebra Born!"
"Nebra Born. Why would a clan be..."
"I-I don't know."
I'd figured they were delvers turned thief, but the whole clan was a criminal outfit?
That's a pretty big problem, honestly.
Hmm. I should probably head back and report this.
"Hey. Aren't they taking too long?"
"Heheheh, they're probably having fun out there."
"Without Relics? They're no different from livestock. How distasteful."
"What if they kill them, Captain?"
"Disgusting. We'll just dispose of them together with the Relic-less ones."
What the heck. There's some weirdly fervent Relic supremacist in here. Sounded like a woman from her voice.
"How harsh."
"So, Captain. We caught those guys. What are we going to do with them in the end?"
"Every last one of them had useless Relics. We'll dispose of them all before we pull out."
"!"
That's extreme.
"Captain. That'd be a real waste. The men aside, the girls are quite something to look at."
"That's right. They'd fetch a good price if we sold them. And if you're going to dispose of them, might as well have fun first."
"Ugh, fine. Do what you want. But make absolutely sure you kill them. We pull out in three hours."
"Awesome!"
"Gheheheheh—if we're killing them anyway, we can do whatever we want, right?"
«...Even so, where did those guys go?»
Three hours later.
And in the meantime, the captured delvers would be in serious trouble.
I couldn't afford to just stand around.
Also, their behavior lately had been getting on my nerves.
I was at my limit.
Clan "Nebulaborn," was it? Should I wipe them out?
«Kika, please stay here.»
«Huh, but—»
I crept closer to them.
Soon, three figures came into view.
The one called the leader was a woman.
Long black hair with white-streaked twin tails.
Big, blue cat-like eyes. Pale skin. Young appearance. And black-and-white cat ears and tail.
A cat-person race? What was she doing? She wore a black military cap and a black uniform.
But she had draped a curved white cloth only on her left side for some reason, and she held a sword in her right hand.
Was she a delver?
The other two looked like your typical delvers.
Well, whatever.
First, I'd take out that military-obsessed Relic fetishist.
I fired Ballistic 6, aimed right at her head.
*Cling.* Huh... there was a short metallic sound.
The blade launched from Ballistic 6 was shredded to pieces by her.
"An ambush?"
"Captain!"
"How dare you. Who's there?!"
The three of them drew their weapons and snapped into defensive formation.
I sniped the man positioned diagonally behind her with Ballistic 6.
This time it hit. Blood sprayed from his head and he crumpled.
"Jik!"
"Damn it, where is he?!"
"Over there."
As expected, the second shot gave away my position.
But she's the only strong one here.
I activated the Relic, Blue Saint.
My eyes turned blue, my heart went calm, and the world began to tick by in slow motion.
Moving in slow motion, I finished off the last one with Ballistic 6.
Only the one they called captain remained.
"There you are!"
When she swung her sword, a streak of lightning surged forth.
I deflected it on the fly with the Azure Saint's Gauntlet.
"What!?"
A lightning strike she normally wouldn't be able to read, but I could manage it now.
The reflected bolt used her sword as a lightning rod and scattered. Not bad.
She looked at me and, sure enough, found me too young. A suspicious look crossed her face.
"A child?"
"That's right."
"A delver? You seem awfully young for one."
"What about you? What are you doing in a place like this, dressed up like that?"
"...A delver. Did you take out those two?"
"Along the way, I also dealt with your fat companion and the rest. By your way of putting it — they were useless."
"...You bastard."
"Well, it doesn't really matter either way."
There was no time for leisurely conversation.
I closed the distance in front of her eyes using Slow-Mo and One Step.
With her wide-eyed surprise still in view, I cut her neck with the Banish Chakram.
Her head dropped without a fight, and her body crumpled to the ground.
"...Haa."
As I let out a sigh, I sensed someone behind me.
I turned around, and there was Kika. She was standing there, trembling.
"Ah, um..."
"Kika. Use this to get out of the dungeon and go to Gauro. Tell the guards what's happening—"
"—please."
I handed her the forced teleportation stone.
"Th-this is..."
"You know how to use it, right?"
"O-of course. B-but what about you!?"
"I'm going to stay here and wipe them out, then rescue the people who've been captured."
"B-but they're—"
"There's no time. Be careful!"
"Ah—"
I left Kika behind and headed for the ruins.
Leaving the bodies lying around wasn't ideal, but this was an emergency.
As I moved forward, the ruins came into view.
The ruins were a stone fortress.
Thick, high stone walls. They looked solid enough, but moss had crept over them and chunks had crumbled away here and there.
In front of an arched stone gate with a certain refined charm to it, two men who looked like delvers stood guard.
Two more were patrolling the perimeter, split between the right and left sides.
They had more guards than I'd expected.
"......Hm."
Taking out everyone here didn't seem feasible.
Well, I could do it—doing it without being noticed was the hard part.
Especially those two, splitting up to patrol right and left.
I absolutely could not be spotted.
Because there were hostages inside the fortress.
If I was spotted, the hostages could end up killed.
This sort of situation was common in stealth games from my past life.
But this wasn't a game.
If even one of the patrolling guards vanished, the others would definitely catch on.
If I could take them all out at once, that would be ideal.
Hm? What was that. My ring was vibrating.
Oh, a call. I had set it to vibration mode for mana calls.
I stepped away to take it.
"Hello, young Wof?"
"Witch. Is something the matter?"
"Mm, mm. Well, you see, the slimming potion is going to be delayed a little. The key ingredient hasn't arrived yet. The commission itself isn't difficult, so it should come through today or tomorrow."
"That's fine, really… I'm actually a bit busy with something else right now."
"Oh my. Has something come up?"
"Well, actually—"
I gave her a brief summary of the situation.
"I see, I see. What an intolerable bunch. I have ties to Clan 'Water Arwis.' I suppose I could pitch in as well."
"Thank you. I'd like to get into the fort without being detected — do you have any ideas?"
"If that's the case, if that's the case, then the Relic 'Widow Suhard' is just the ticket. Let me call her over. Hmm. Oh my, oh my, oh? Now what in the world is this?"
"Did something happen?"
"Hmm, hmm. Well, I suppose that works too."
"A witch? Whoa!"
A woman suddenly materialized from my shadow.
A black mourning dress clung to her alluring body, as though damp and glistening.
Long, loose jet-black hair, both front and back. A wide-brimmed black hat perched on her head.
A thin black veil hid her face down to the bridge of her nose, but her black-painted lips and the line of her jaw were visible.
And they were, quite frankly, sexy.
A pitch-black widow holding a black parasol with black-gloved hands in elegant poise.
The witch's Relic, Widow Suhard.
"It looks like she ended up appearing on your side, it seems."
"Y-yes. That gave me quite a start."
"Mm, mm. If you use her power, you should be able to slip into the fort unnoticed."
"Got it."
"Even so, even so, there are so many things I'm curious about. Young Wof. I'll look into things from my end too. Can I leave the rest to you?"
"Yes."
"Then, then, please take good care of Widow Suhard."
"Y-yes. Understood."
The call ended.