Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – The Mysterious Girl (2)

“Someone is coming. They seem to have business with us, so handle it well.”

“Huh? With us?”

I alerted Rina about the approaching presence. Surprised, Rina widened her eyes and stared intently in the direction I pointed out.

“It seems like they’re quite skilled, despite appearances.”

The figure stopped for a moment, as if not expecting Rina to notice their approach, then revealed themselves. In truth, Rina hadn’t sensed their presence before they appeared.

The individual who emerged was a middle-aged human male dressed as an adventurer, with a sword strapped to his waist.

“Who are you?”

Rina asked cautiously. He shrugged, but it was only natural to be wary when a stranger approached. This place was practically a lawless zone; conflicts among adventurers and the resulting crimes were not to be underestimated.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. The first time I saw you was at the guild’s building, and I honestly didn’t expect you two to come all the way out here. I followed because I was worried something might happen.”

“Is that really… Huh!?”

As he spoke with a smile, Rina tried to believe him, her eyes wide. Growing incredulous, I discreetly grabbed her tail from behind, snapping her back to reality.

“I find it hard to believe.”

“That’s understandable. It should be.”

Maintaining her vigilance upon my warning, Rina nodded. While I wasn’t sure of his true intentions, it did seem he had no desire to attack us for now.

“My name is Patrick. I’m genuinely here to warn you. There are quite a few low-life adventurers out there. Those who commit crimes in secret tend to bully weaker targets in places like this. Some of them have set their sights on you two.”

With a serious change in expression, he pointed at us.

“It would be wise to protect the little lady beside you. You should gather more allies or prepare yourselves.”

He offered his advice kindly. Given his serious demeanor, it seemed sincere, but I honestly thought he was just being nosy.

“What should we do?”

Rina whispered, glancing at me. I chuckled and simply assured her there was no need to worry.

“Looks like you had quite a fun day today.”

“It wasn’t bad. We didn’t come away empty-handed.”

That night, after returning to the mansion and washing up in warm water, I met Ethan. While restoring the artifact he brought, the events of the day naturally came up in conversation.

“You, you must have some influence in this city, right?”

“N-no way. I’m just a mere supervisor…”

“Look into an adventurer for me. He’s a human male named Patrick, with short red hair.”

Thinking about it, there was no reason not to take advantage of his power as an executive of an underworld organization. He instinctively sensed something and tried to deny it, but it was a futile resistance.

“What exactly happened?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything, and some strange guys warned me.”

“Oh, I see. There are such types among adventurers. Those associated with ‘our side.'”

Finally giving up, he sighed and asked for the details, to which I recounted the events of the day. He nodded, seemingly grasping the situation.

“If they are associated with our organization, I can handle them, but if they’re adventurers, it might be different. For now, let’s look into this Patrick.”

“Impressive. You really let me know everything.”

“…”

Hearing his response as if it were no big deal, I couldn’t help but be genuinely impressed. However, he frowned upon my admiration.

It seemed he wasn’t fond of being treated like a pocket from which anything could be pulled out. But since it was his duty, he had no right to refuse.

“Just a word of caution, so I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. It’s fine to engage in adventurer activities for fun, but it’s best to avoid troublesome people. Those from the underworld will do anything to get what they want.”

However, before he returned to his room, he delivered a warning. Although he spoke indirectly, it meant that if something went wrong, it would be hard to fix, so I should take care.

“He’s not wrong.”

I didn’t deny his words. The reason Ethan could become my trusty weapon was because of that very power he had.

However, it seemed Ethan himself needed to manage things better.

“One guy, no, two, huh?”

“—!”

He warned me not to get into trouble while he had some unknown invader entering his house. It seemed he had taken some thorough precautions to deal with hostile organizations as an executive of an underworld group, but it appeared to be useless against equally skilled foes.

Lying on the bed in a darkened room, trying to sleep, I chuckled upon seeing the earth spirit that appeared in front of me.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Just to be safe, Rina, you should hide.”

As part of my nightly routine, Rina carefully cleaned my long ears, surprised when I pushed her away and got up, unlike usual.

“I’m serving up this much.”

Although they seemed to be after something from Ethan, Ethan was my weapon. If he were to get hurt, I would suffer as well, so I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

“Already taken down one, have I?”

Diving out the window and landing softly on the ground I had made fluffy, I smelled a metallic scent of blood with my keen nose.

Ethan had been using his subordinates as guards for the mansion, so one of them had clearly fallen victim to the intruders.

I hurried my steps, planning to deal with them before they targeted the servants or Ethan. After all, as long as they had their feet on the ground, there was no way they could escape my tracking.

“Yeah, I can see too.”

Minimizing my presence, I turned the corner to find would-be assassins trying to penetrate the main building, stealthily taking out the guards. It was a pair wearing black masks to hide their faces.

These were the very same intruders the earth spirit had warned me about.

“…!?”

One of them spotted me and staggered back, seemingly startled. Judging by the reaction of the other one, they clearly hadn’t come prepared for an encounter with me.

“An, elf?!”

“It seems we need to have a chat.”

Their reaction was wondering why an elf was here. They were so surprised they didn’t immediately flee or attack, but I didn’t want to have a conversation in such a calm state, so I pointed my hand and commanded the earth’s power.

I swiftly transformed the ground beneath them into a bog, trapping them, then hardened it to bury them alive efficiently.

“Ugh!?”

One of them sank up to their thighs almost instantly, but surprisingly, the other managed to leap from the ground just in time to avoid my attack.

“W-what the hell?!”

The assailant instinctively charged at me, clearly aggressive without knowing what was going on.

But I had abilities beyond just manipulating the earth. As I swiftly lifted the ground beneath him, he found himself leaping into the air, limbs flailing.

No matter how exceptional one’s martial skills were, being in mid-air without a foothold was meaningless.

“Cough…”

I transformed the ground where the falling enemy would land into mud, and the moment he struck the ground, I solidified it, imprisoning him in a position that left only his face and limbs protruding, amusingly crushing my foe.

“Not bad.”

“—!”

I could feel my proficiency rising in a much more efficient manner than when battling monsters. It seemed to be because I was stronger than the monsters.

The earth spirit seemed excited, enjoying such a fierce battle.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“What do you mean? You caused this trouble, and I’m cleaning up after you. You’re a persistent bunch. I pressed you down until every bone in your body was broken, yet you didn’t say a word.”

Just then, Ethan burst through the mansion with a weapon, accompanied by the mansion’s occupants, while I was stomping on the faces of the buried intruders to interrogate where they came from.

I clicked my tongue and turned my body before Ethan and the others could see me.

“Thanks. I’ll give you the results separately.”

Ethan nodded, as if to say he would take care of the aftermath.

With the mansion being invaded and his subordinates killed, he wouldn’t do a half-hearted job. As the mansion buzzed with activity, I returned to the room and found a trembling Rina.

“Nothing happened.”

“I was watching through the window and told you, Master.”

“It’s a minor issue. Considering what Ethan does, it’s not surprising for such things to happen. If you’re scared, would you like to sleep together?”

I plopped down on the bed. Since Rina seemed anxious, I jokingly gave her a gentle nudge on the side.

It was a quip that couldn’t be said without such a harmless appearance.