"Damn it! Where'd they go!"

  About five minutes after the guild adventurers left.

  We concealed ourselves again and came close to where the city ruler's underlings were.

  They're still looking for us.

  We could have ambushed and defeated them here… but it'd be bad if it was all a misunderstanding.

  I should confirm their stance first.

  "Alright, I'm gonna cancel the concealment. Don't bring out your weapon just yet, but don't let your guard down either!"

  """YES!"""

  I showed myself up in front of the underlings.

  And then…


  "Excuse me. We seem to have gotten lost…"

  I pretend to be lost and asked him the way.

  With my guard up of course.

  I can make a counterattack if they do attack me, I've positioned myself to lop off their heads all at once in less than three seconds if needed.

  Now then, how will they react…


  "Aa. Your inn is that way."

  The city ruler's underlings looked a bit perplexed to see us suddenly showing up, but they immediately pointed to a direction.

  The direction they gave is correct for sure.

  We never said our inn's name out, so they probably have investigated our lodging place.

  …Well, simply knowing the location doesn't mean that raiding it will be a success.

  "Thank you very much."

  We thanked them, turn our back on the underlings and began to walk to the direction they told us.

  I'm walking in the back most. I should look like an easy target from their perspective.

  The next moment——

  "Don't move."

  The underling put his hands on my neck and pointed a knife on it.

  It really comes to this huh.

  "Listen to what we say if you don't want this guy killed."

  The underling who's caught me looks over the girls after saying that.

  He really does not seem wary of me.

  They really think I'm a healer huh…


  Well, letting them operate with the misunderstanding is convenient for us, so let's let them keep it.

  It'd make things far easier if they targeted me instead of the girls.

  "Follow us."

  Right when the underling said that and tried to drag me with him… I activated telepathy magic. And tell Iris.

  『Iris, with bare hand, you hear me.』


  『Yes!』


  Iris readied her fist and thrust it at us.

  "You…"

  The underling swings a knife toward my hand.

  He's probably not aiming for my neck to avoid killing me.

  You can't take a corpse hostage after all.

  Well——either way, it's pointless.

  I enveloped my whole body with defensive magic right when the knife was swung down.

  Putting up a magical defensive wall while taking care not to make them notice it is a bit troublesome… But there's no need for that this time.

  Because any shred of oddness they felt would be blown away by Iris's fist.

  "You think you can win against us with a fist——wha?"

  One of the underlings caught Iris's fist with a sword.

  However, of course the blade couldn't get through it.

  Thus, all of the city ruler's underlings got blown away just like that.

  Well, I also got rolled up in it though.

  "…Alright, now every one of them has been knocked out."

  I slipped in during the confusion and shot Faint-inducing magic on all of them.

  With this, we've evaded their ambush with the misunderstanding intact.

  "You… knocked them out?"

  "Yeah. It's a waste to kill them."

  As I said that, I put several magic into the underlings' body.

  We're going to let them go after putting these in.

  "Alright, that'll do."

  After I was done inserting the magic.

  I said that as I stood up.

  "A magic to detect their position… right?"

  Ruli who saw the augmented magic said that.

  She's generally correct.

  "Yeah. Half of it."

  "Half?"

  "Yeah. This magic also has an effect to detect demons. If my guess is right, demons don't have anything to do with the matter this time, but… just in case."

  I have surmised that demons only played a part in the previous city ruler's demise.

  But it's not a bad idea to check it out while also watching the current ruler's moves.

  This kind of spell is plain but convenient.

  ◇


  And then, about a week after we dealt with the underlings.

  A messenger who carries a letter from the king has arrived at our place.