Chapter 197: Interrogating

I questioned the man lying on the ground pressing his abdomen. He was gasping, but his head seemed clear.

"Who hired you to come here?"

At my question he spat a bloody gob of saliva with a "gufu" and said,

"I was hired in the capital. They said there was a job with good pay and asked if I wanted it. Just killing a kid and two women — an easy job..."

"You don’t know anything about the employer?"

He shook his head.

"I’ve met the employer. We were brought part of the way. That guy... I don’t think he’s from this country. His speech felt a little different."

Hoh, is that so. As I thought.

"Do you know which country?"

"I don’t know that much detail."

"I see. How did you follow us all the way here?"

"Fufun, seems we were the next wave of pursuers or something. The previous bunch messed up, so we got called out. If it hadn’t been for that we wouldn’t have gotten much money, so when I heard we could go and make a profit I was happy... and this is the result, ahaha."

"How did you find this hut? We thought that once we entered the forest we’d be out of your sight."

"Ah, that. I thought it was strange too. Searching blindly, there’s no way we’d find you. But there was a guy guiding us, and somehow he could tell. There was a woman among you, right? He said he’d put a mark on her. When she’s far away he only gets a rough direction, but as you go that way and gradually get closer, the location becomes exact. That’s his ability — pretty convenient. That’s how he brought us all the way here."

I was shocked by what the man said. When I slowly raised my face, Stevie’s face was also frozen in shock. The one who had a mark put on her — was that Lily? And by following that mark, the ability user would come searching for us? That was how they could aim for this hut with pinpoint accuracy inside the forest?

"What happened to that ability user?"

"He ran. Ran first thing. Ran before the fighting even started."

That one — when they approached, one person had separated and gone back. So that was the ability user.

"He was bragging. Once he puts a mark on someone, as long as the marked person doesn’t die, he can tell. He bragged that he’s the only one in the country with that ability. Annoying guy."

The Empire? A person from the Empire.

"He didn’t put a mark on me?"

At my question he shook his head.

"No, he said it was impossible. I asked him too. The real target was the kid, so why not put it on the kid? He said the kid moved too fast and he couldn’t mark him. There was a woman who was stopped and not moving, so he marked her."

"Did you hear when that was?"

"He said it was when we fought the big bear and the wolves. Everyone else died then, but that guy had fast feet and was the only one who escaped. Still, he said he’d properly put the mark on, so he’d done his job."

That time!? When Lily couldn’t move, there had been a strange instant. That was when the mark was put on her! Cold sweat ran down my side. It felt as if the blood had drained from my head. The temperature of the air around us dropped.

"Hey, that’s enough, right? My eyes are starting to go dark. Even talking is hard. H-hurry up and finish me off, haa, haa, haa."

"One last question. Isn’t your employer someone from the Empire?"

"Maybe... so. You guys... if you got captured... he said they’d take you somewhere... haa haa haa..."

With breathing this rough, he probably wouldn’t last long even without the finishing blow.

"Got it. Then I’ll finish you off."

"Ahh, thanks."

He had already lost a considerable amount of blood from his abdomen. So he might have died from blood loss before the abdominal pain even set in. I set my sword against his neck and pulled it in one stroke! Blood sprayed from the side of his neck in a single burst, then immediately stopped.

While watching the flowing blood I thought. Lily had a mark put on her? Lily had been marked. Because there was a marker, as long as Lily was alive, her location could be known. No matter how far we fled we would be tracked. That meant I would kill that ability user. There was no other way. Leaving Lily behind was unthinkable!

"Robby-sama."

Stevie spoke in a low, hesitant voice.

"Um... what do you intend to do about Lily? You’re not... going to abandon her, or anything? You wouldn’t do that, right? Lily has always been useful until now, and she’ll keep helping us, and stay by our side forever... ahh, Lily will always, always be Lily! Please, Lily, Sister Lily...!"

When Stevie had gotten that far,

"What about me?"

a voice said. Looking that way, Lily was standing there. She looked at us with a face that asked what we were talking about.

Fortunately she had not overheard our conversation. If she had, she would certainly have insisted on separating from us. Even if we took separate actions, the enemy’s target was me. If Lily were captured and taken hostage, I would definitely go to rescue her. Lily was, in a sense, another mother to me ever since I transferred to this world. The thought of abandoning her and going to the Mainz Kingdom was unthinkable.

"It’s nothing. We were talking about whether Lily had gotten better. Right, Stevie?"

When I passed the conversation to Stevie she nodded firmly. She said nothing unnecessary.

"I see. I’ve recovered! I’m back to normal. I’m sorry for the trouble."

Lily said with a smile. But it still did not feel as if she had completely returned to normal.

"Anyway, let’s leave this place. Pursuers might come again!"

""Yes!""

Might? No — pursuers would definitely be waiting ahead. Even so, pursuers would not spring up infinitely. And whether or not Lily had a marking, the enemy would definitely be waiting near the border checkpoint. Of course they would not want to fight in a place with many eyes. They would attack in a place as free of onlookers as possible. I would not lose. I would protect Lily and take her to the Mainz Kingdom!!