My Demons

Chapter 41

Thanks to the unexpected assault that took out the leader, I was able to deal with the rest of the outlaws quite effortlessly.

Covering the front, I obstructed their advance while Arnal, who had followed me without shoes through the dark, fired arrows from the rear.

One more was struck by an arrow, and the bandits attempted to gather themselves and hurried towards us, but

Flammae, satus!

We gave our backs to Ellen, Grania, and Luke, who emerged from the opposite side.

Following the fire arrow, a wind fist came through, and Grania and I took care of those who had completely lost their desire to fight.

After the skirmish, while Grania was questioning a fortunate survivor, I wiped away the blood smears on me and got dressed.

Meanwhile, Luke came over and handed me the armor he had been responsible for.

Thanks, Luke. Can you pass me the breastplate first?

Sure thing. But how did you figure it out, Phoenix?

Figure what out?

As I responded, attaching the rings to the breastplate, Luke fastened the side straps and said,

I had my doubts at first. I was worried that we might be attacking innocent folks.

Hmm, how can I put this?

My rationale for assuming they were bandits solely based on their presence was, naturally, influenced by my experience in the game.

Fast foot Tobald was a fixed named enemy (an enemy that appears invariably with a name) encountered for the first time in Chapter 2 of the Dark World Campaign.

While wandering around the sewer, youre almost guaranteed to come across him, usually accompanied by a minimum of four and a maximum of ten lackeys. However, despite searching every nook and cranny from the 1st to the 4th floor of the sewer, I never came across Tobalds group.

Thats why I grew suspicious when I noticed a crew of about ten people heading toward an unlikely location. How could I not harbor doubts?

Yet, I couldnt share this with Luke.

Uh, its a bit tough to explain, but I sort of had a hunch.

A hunch?

Yeah, and well, I had my doubts. If theres an actual secret passage to the outside, I wondered whether the enemies might be using it too

I get it.

Luke appeared puzzled for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Well, you are a blood sorcerer. Its not too surprising that your gut feeling is strong.

Uh, yeah, something like that.

Thanks for buying into my vague explanation, Luke.

As I improvised, Arnal, who was putting on her shoes beside me, spoke in a bored tone.

I dont care about intuition or whatever, just dont attempt such crazy tactics next time. I have no clue what Ive stepped on while running around like a maniac.

A crazy tactic? It worked pretty well, didnt it?

The idea of only Arnal and I flanking the enemy was a spur-of-the-moment decision. It felt like a missed opportunity not to ambush them while they were unaware of us.

Sure, silencing all five of them would have been a challenge. But for Arnal and me, with high agility scores and training from a hunter, it seemed worth a shot.

We had to shed our clattering plate armor and thick-soled shoes.

Thanks to that, we managed to subdue them without a single injury. Still, Arnal didnt appear satisfied.

We were just lucky. I still cant believe such a makeshift plan actually worked.

Hey, if you want to argue, just say it.

Its not an argument ah, forget it. You, dont do this in public, okay?

Do what?

When I asked, Arnal frowned as if genuinely clueless.

Running around like a berserker. Even without that, the rumors about you are odd. If you keep that up, people might label you a heretic or a lunatic. The reason the arms dealer opposed hiring you never mind, forget it.

Although shes concerned, its a bit bothersome.

Its not be cautious not to be misunderstood, but be cautious not to get caught, right?

And, the arms dealer? If hes the arms dealer, then hes the general I encountered on the battlefield by the dock. What about him?

Just as I was about to voice my doubts, Ellen, who was inspecting the sling I had returned to her, suddenly chimed in.

Shes right. It was an unnecessarily risky operation.

Hey, I chose the safest method on my end. And

Hold on a second. Is this girl actually agreeing with what Arnal just said?

When our surprised looks turned to her, Ellen swiftly averted her gaze and added.

They werent all that great to begin with. Why take the chance?

Hmm, shes aligning with Arnals viewpoint but shes still addressing me. Its unclear.

In total, there were six glass bottles. One contained a potion of infrared vision, two were healing potions, and the remaining two were sleep potions.

All of them were valuable, but the real prize was the final potion.

A potion of invisibility? Isnt that incredibly valuable?

Yes. I couldnt even fathom finding it here In the game, Fast Foot Tobald often employed invisibility to ambush opponents when his health was reduced by half.

Could it be that due to this game mechanic, he had a potion of invisibility?

Ellen picked up the glass bottle containing a gray liquid and held it up to the torchlight, examining it from different angles.

She gave the bottle a few shakes to inspect its contents, then clicked her tongue and added,

This is a crude concoction made from the cocoon of an invisible moth, not fairy dust. The effect wont even last for five minutes.

Five minutes? Thats rather brief.

The potion of invisibility was incredibly valuable in the game.

It was a versatile item that could prove useful when pilfering valuable items, when surrounded by enemies and in danger, or when dealing with a tricky adversary.

While it could be detected by an opponent equipped with an invisibility detection item or by someone with high agility isnt that not a concern right now at our lower level range? Unless dispelled by significant movement or sustaining damage, there would hardly be a reason to deactivate it.

Why the surprise? In the La-Palais Palace, its common for a potion of invisibility to last over an hour. And there are no side effects.

Alright, enough. Im not even asking for an hour.

Five minutes is already quite substantial for a PvP situation based on my experiences.

Lets distribute the potions roughly.

Deciding to hold onto the potion of invisibility, I gave the potion of infrared sight to Arnal, who was an archer. We agreed to entrust the potions of wound healing to Grania and Ellen, respectively.

The one given to Grania served as a sort of compensation for her injury, while the one given to Ellen was meant for safekeeping as she held the most protected position.

As for the sleeping potions, I decided to keep them since there wasnt a specific immediate use. Their time will come eventually.

As Arnal received the potion and marveled at it, she suddenly muttered as if recalling something.

Come to think of it, it was a good thing we ambushed them.

Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?

That Kobold, or whatever his name was, if we had given him a chance, he might have consumed the invisibility potion and caused trouble. We couldve missed him.

Upon Arnals words, even Luke nodded vigorously.

Somebody couldve gotten seriously hurt. We really lucked out.

Well, my initial decision to ambush was mainly because I knew Tobald was a problematic character.

He used his subordinates as human shields, engaged in hit-and-run tactics, and even launched surprise attacks while being invisible. I wanted to take him down first.

Fortunately, my teammates attributed our success to luck alone, and no one questioned my impeccable strategy.

They seemed to genuinely believe it was luck. No one realized the truth, and while it was a bit disappointing well, thats alright, its fortunate.

Internally, I clenched my lips again and continued searching through Tobalds belongings. After all, my main goal wasnt these magic potions.

Are we finished? Why the intense search?

Wait a minute.

Responding casually to Arnals query, I continued digging through Tobalds clothing. Finally, I sensed that there was something inside his upper garments.

A small piece of fabric about the size of my palm was sewn into the lining of the tunic, slightly flipped over.

Upon tearing away the stitched portion and looking inside, I found a paper envelope coated with adhesive.

Oh, that-

Its a letter.

I inspected the paper envelope carefully, disregarding the surprised remarks.

The material was smooth yet substantial, giving it a high-quality appearance.

Hmm, the evidence of collusion I remember from the game was in the form of a scroll.

I fiddled with the paper for a moment before carefully unsealing the glue which lacked a seal.

As I read the letter quickly, my face turned pale in an instant.

[The currently used route is narrow and fraught with hazards, making it unfavorable for progress.

We will secure the official route at sunset, four days from now. There are numerous alternate paths near the official route, so we suggest attempting a breakthrough in multiple directions.

Around 300 squads should be able to maximize profits while maintaining speed.

Please relay this information to our allies in the south. They will be eager to cooperate. Also, ensure that we do not infringe upon each others interests.

We will await you with a green flag,

Please avoid any missteps.

May 20.

by L.C.]