Chapter 146

Chapter 146 Strongest Sage, Tests it Out

"It must be a mistake . It's true that this monster was the most passable one up to floor 18, but it's not really that strong of a monster . . . . "

"No well . . . The fact that it's the strongest up to floor 18 is already weird in itself okay? . . . Did you really defeat this with just four people?"

"I didn't participate, so three people . "

"Unbelievable . . . Are you guys monster . . . . By the way, Mathias, what were you doing at that time?"

The branch head asked .

He probably knew my name from the guild card .

"I wasn't doing anything . Just watching . "

" . . . You didn't want to help them?"

"The three of them were enough . I fully planned to help them if it looked dangerous though . "

The branch head took a pen and wrote something on the memo after hearing that .

I can't see what he's writing from here since he's obstructing it . . . but I can guess by his muscle movements .

The hidden memo is written with, 『If the report is to be believed, the monstrous ones are Alma, Ruli and Iris . Mathias, the leader doesn't partake because he's a healer』 .

Looks like they mistook me as a healer .

And then the branch head smiled .

"I understand the situation . . . . I actually don't, but I understand . Either way, we're very grateful for having that monster killed . We can purchase the materials right away, however your reward for the subjugation will have to wait . It takes time to report the subjugation to the city ruler, and for the reward money to trickle down . Do you have any problem with that?"

"I don't . "

We didn't defeat the monster because we took the quest, but it appears he wants to give us the reward regardless .

However, since the reward comes from the city ruler, we probably shouldn't expect much .

Thus, we managed to safely (?) sell the materials .

◇

Afterward, we had a meal in a random store, and headed back to the inn .

. . . On the way back .

My detection magic sensed suspicious presences .

Are we being tailed?

In order to ascertain that, I purposely took a back alley that we normally wouldn't have taken .

"Huh? Was our inn this way?"

Alma asked me who suddenly changed direction .

I reply her while taking care not to make it looks suspicious .

"Yeah . This route seems to be shorter . "

While saying that I concentrated on the continuous detection .

It seems like both groups are following us . There's no doubt that they're tailing us then .

There are two groups of suspicious presences in total .

Both of them are trying to hide their presences .

. . . . Their stalking skill's a mess . Walking out in the open at a place with a lot of people would have made them not look suspicious instead .

I activate telepathy magic while thinking that .

『You three, listen to me calmly . 』

『 . . . What's the matter?』

『Does this have something to do with the sudden turn?』

The three were surprised at the sudden telepathy but they quickly replied calmly .

And Alma is correct .

『We're being tailed . And by two groups at that . 』

『Two groups?』

『Yeah . One of them is . . . no doubt, subordinates of the city ruler . And they don't seem friendly at all . They even carry equipment for capturing people with them . 』

『 . . . You know that much without seeing them?』

『Yeah . Once you're used to it, you can somewhat know the enemy's equipment and such with just Passive Detection . Particularly when they're carrying magic tools, it's quite easy . 』

『No, I don't think that's easy at all . . . 』

『First of all, even though I know there are human reactions, I don't know whether they're tailing us or not . . . . 』

Well, this stuff is a matter of experience .

Alma and Ruli should be able to do this much without focusing once they train a bit .

As for Iris . . . . it's better left unsaid .

Every human has something they're good at . She's a dragon though .

『And, the other group, I'm not really sure, but . . . . There's not a lot of them, and they don't seem hostile . So I'm thinking of coming in contact with this one . 』

『 . . . We're meeting the people tailing us ourselves? Isn't that dangerous . . . 』

『We simply need to respond in kind if they try to harm us . Moreover, we can decide the timing if we're the one going after them . . . Letting them to decide the timing is way more dangerous instead . 』

I activated concealment magic after saying that .

Both of the tailing groups have lost us with this .

Next is . . .

『Now! Follow after me while being careful about the sound from your footsteps!!』

『『『YES!』』』

I simply go to our target with the three following .

And we arrived at . . . the path the group who isn't with the city ruler is going to take .

Now that we're here, they should find us soon once I cancel the concealment magic .

And then . . . .

『Let's stop here . Make it look like we're only walking naturally . 』

『『『YES!』』』

I deactivated the concealment magic after their reply .

We probably look like we're casually walking from their point of view .

People who could see through this camouflage wouldn't have done such a poor stalking .

Now then, what's coming out .

If they're attacking, I'll consider them enemy . . . .

" . . . Am I correct to assume that you're Mathias-san?"

Just as I thought, they went ahead and talked to us huh .

It appears that . . . they're not our enemy .