abcnovels
Volume 6 - Ch 2.07
Volume 6 - Ch 2.07
Yes, someone is most definitely tailing us. We should not have come here at this time of the day. If I knew that something like that was going to happen, I would have opted for masters proposal to go back home for the day and come here tomorrow morning, when the probability of something like that happening would have been much smaller.
Maybe it is not what you think it is? Maybe they are just random people who are following in the same direction as us?
I knew that this sounded like a huge stretch, but it is not like something like that could not have happened at all. This is the Labyrinth after all, a place where there is likely only one path that leads to the Boss Room on the entire floor, so it would stand to reason that the people who wanted to reach the Boss Room and challenge the floor Boss would bump into other Parties on their way there from time to time.
Initially I thought that this might be the case as well, but now I am certain that it is definitely not it, because whoever these people are, they have been following us for a long time ever since we left the starting room. I can tell because I have been sensing the same kind of smell dragging itself behind us. A foul smell, I might add.
Yeah, if Roxanne is going to put it like that, then I guess it cannot be just an ordonary coincidence, huh?
Any idea who these guys might be, Sherry?
I asked, but the answer to that question was already formulating itself in my mind without the need for Roxanne or Sherry to be saying anything, but at the very least I want to know what they think about it as well to see if my own guess was correct or not.
If they were watching us ever since we left the starting room without revealing their identities and always staying on our backs, then I would say that we are definitely dealing with Bandits or Thieves here.
Yes, I think so too as well. If they were regular Adventurers or Explorers whose goal is to find the entrance to the Boss Room, they had more than one occasion to go past us and continue marching on ahead, but since they did not do that, then there can only be one answer. They are staying behind us on purpose, an that is only something that a fould bunch of outlaws would do.
Seri seems to agree with Roxannes suggestion that apparently we have a group of Thieves or Bandits on our hands, or I guess I should say backs.
Thieves or Bandits, huh? Hoo boi, I say to myself as I take a deep breath. Depending on what happens next, we might have a good time, bad time or a colossally bad time, and if I am to be completely honest with you, then I am not looking forward to finding out which of these is it going to be.
Well, if we are really dealing with Thieves or Bandits here, then I really doubt if it would have changed anything if we came here in the morning, in the middle of the day or in the evening. Anyway, they seem to be more active when there are fewer people around in the Labyrinths so that they can avoid being detected. So maybe if we walk around enough to come across some other Party, we could force them to drop the idea of attacking us?
Uhm. Unfortunately, it looks like there are no other Parties nearby, or at least I cannot sense any other smells aside from the ones that are following us.
Well, shit. Great job Roxanne, you just went and ruined the possibility of a peaceful resolution. I know that it is not really your fault and there is nothing that we can really do about it if there are no other people in our immediate vicinity, but still you could have just let me think that we could still get this thing resolved without it turning ugly. Now I just have to go and prepare myself for the worst, it would seem.
All right then what are we going to do about them?
If we turn left at the nearest crossroads, they we could use the monsters that are there as a distraction and finish those Bandits off while they are going to be busy fighting the monsters. If there were any other people, then I would have prepared not to fight them openly because there is always a possibility that one or two of them might escape and then the fact that master is capable of using magic might get exposed, but if they are really Bandits, then the solution here is simple: we are going to get rid of every last one of them so that there would be no one left to tell the tale.
In other words, no one would be able to hold what we are going to do against us, because we are simply going to take out the trash?
Precisely.
Both of the girls seem to be really aggressive about the notion of beating the Bandits that are following us into a bloody pulp, or possibly even putting them six feet under themselves. And since even Sherry seems to be on board with such a radical solution, then I guess this is probably how things are unfolding whenever Thieves and Bandits are involved, and since they are outlaws, then I guess nobody is going to miss them or even bat an eye if just another group of lawless scum like them were to just up and disappear never to be heard from again.
They might not be the Bandits, you know? They might be
With all due respect master, but Miss Roxanne is right. If these people were Adventurers or Explorers, they would have gone past us a long time ago. As things are standing right now, we have pretty much absolute certainty that they are Bandits, and we have every right, and even duty, to protect ourselves from them.
Sherry has cut into what I was saying before I even got the chance to finish my sentence. She is the most intellectual and reasonable member of our group, but was it really reasonable and rational to be looking at this matter the way she was looking at it now? Well, I am going to put my trust in her and Roxanne on this one, but since I am the one who is ultimately going to make the final call, then I will allow myself to slightly alter our plan of attack here.
All right, here is what we are going to do then: we are going to turn right at the crossroads. If they are still going to be following us, we are going to turn right back up and face them head, hitting them as hard as we can before they will be able to realize what is happening. Or instead of all three of us attacking them first and doing that head on, we might hide in the shadows and attack them from the sides while one of us is going to be at the front, acting as a decoy to draw attention away from the other two at the sides.
Understood!
Got it, master!
There was no dissenting opinions, and all three of us agreed on that particular course of action pretty easily. But the only question that remains now is: are we ready to do this? Because, if I am to be completely honest, I still had my fair share of reservations about this, but you know how it is: a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do when it counts the most, right?
And so I brandished Durandal. With how powerful my trusty Holy Sword is, once I hit the opponents with it they are definitely going to get scared and confused about why they are all getting decimated with just a hit or two, and it is going to be a huge aid for us in this upcoming battle. I then took a couple of deep breaths, but surprisingly enough, I noticed that I was not as nervous as I supposed that I was going to get. In fact, I was feeling strangely calm about this whole thing that we were about to do.
It is going to be okay, Michio, everything is going to be fine. You have already decided that you are going to do this thing, and Roxanne and Sherry are on board with it as well, so the time for hesitation is long since past. You just have to grit your teeth and do this thing now!