ALL NOVEL Chapter 45: The Chase
Chapter 45: The Chase
-----------------------------------------------
“Ya win some, ya lose some. I don’t know if it’s just me, but sometimes I feel I lose more than I win.”
Horny Bill, Drunk Gambler
Year 414
//
--POV: Ryuta Koichi—
--Place: A countryside cafe/ Time: 07:34—
“Aghh!”
The pain is back in my heart.
The pain I felt when I was in that dream.
That accursed place.
*DRIP*
A drop of sweat drops off my chin as I stare around my room, the current room I’m renting.
I’m sweating so much, that the sweat is dripping?
He did something.
That being did something.
I don’t know what it is, I don’t know where he is.
But that black being with blue eyes definitely did something.
But what did he do?
Did he leave that cursed plain, a plain with nothing but a black landscape?
Did he come here? Did he descend from that hellhole?
He moved, he must’ve either entered or escaped that dream world I dreamt off.
Or……
He could be nearby.
“Shit!”
He could be here.
The instinct is warning me because he’s nearby?
“Talk to me, you useless alarm!”
But no matter how much I try, the instinct doesn’t talk.
It just gives me this unease, this disgusting feeling, this worry, this fear.
That’s it.
It’s just like an emotion.
An artificial emotion that I can feel whenever I’m in danger.
“Ughh.”
Lifting myself off the bed, I realize I may have to use the shower earlier than I expected, after all, I’m covered in sweat.
I may have to head to the landlady downstairs and ask her where the shower is.
I was so tried yesterday, trying to escape authorities, that it never crossed my head to take a shower despite my unclean condition yesterday.
*CREAK*
Damn, the hinges of this door needs to be oile-
*BAM*
An ambush?!
The authorities were waiting from me to exit?
Pulling out my sword, I activate my newest divine power SENSE, an ability that greatly increases my 5 senses.
“Huh?”
There is just one person and they are on the floor.
It seems this is just someone bumping into the door I just opened.
Fuck, my paranoia caused me to act without assessing the situation properly.
Now I’m awkwardly standing with the door nearly closed, and my hand on the hilt of the holy sword.
Calming down after noticing nobody else in the area, I shut down my sensory buff, and reopen the nearly shut door.
“I’m sorry for opening the door so much despite the corridor being so narrow.”
“No. no. It’s my fault for not considering the idea that any of these doors to the guest room could open at any moment.”
What greeted me was a girl, a girl my age.
And an amazing voice to go with it. Is she one of those saints? Her attire makes her look more like some fighter, with a longsword at her hip.
Plus, her red hair and green eyes tells me she is a foreigner because none of the numerous ethnicities that inhabit adion have such physical characteristics.
“However, it seems sir here is pretty worried I had some ill intentions towards him.”
Despite not seeing me draw my sword as I immediately closed the door as soon as I heard a bang, she was acutely aware that I was on a high alert and in a defensive stance.
It seems she is no ordinary village girl travelling to the city Ouboniel, she has some battle instincts.
“Plus, mister’s sword is no ordinary sword, so how could mister himself be an ordinary swordsman.”
Did she plan to bump into the door?
The holy sword doesn’t have any of it’s abilities active, so it’s supposed to look like a normal sword.
Plus, I dirtied the hilt to make it look cheap.
Why does she know about the specialness of this sword?
Is she from the authorities? A government official? Or a spy working for the royals?
“Well, you yourself are quite interesting yourself.” Her body is especially interesting, despite her unrevealing clothes.
Quite interesting, indeed.
“Would you mind eating lunch, mister? It’ll be my treat.” She says after she stands up from the ground. “I’m sure you must be hungry after sleeping, right?”
She bumped into me on purpose, so she can initiate a conversation with me.
She revealed information that she knew about me regarding my sword on purpose, so it would spark a certain of interest and wariness towards her, to make her seem important in my mind.
She asked me to lunch in this café, even offering to treat me for it, on purpose. She wants to continue conversing with me and is even willing to pay for it, shows that she really wants to talk to me.
Is she an assassin? No, assassins wouldn’t ask me for a morning breakfast if they wanted to kill me. They’d either try their luck killing me in the bedroom, or wait till I live the inn and find a secluded spot to off me.
Yet she chose to directly confront me.
That means her desire is to communicate with me first and foremost.
She doesn’t seem to be with the authorities, because the government should be officially at war with Avalon.
She seems to be very suited for scouting if we take her previous observing abilities into account. Would the authorities waste her by sending her to retrieve the hero who escaped?
Maybe.
Depends on how much the royals and the pope value me. She doesn’t seem to be related to either the church or the nobility, so I guess I’m in the clear for now.
“Of course, miss. Just let me wash up first.”
“Take your time, I will be waiting downstairs.”
--Place: Lower floor of the countryside cafe/ Time: 07:56—
“Over here, mister!”
Shit, as soon as I walk down the stairs, she calls out to me from the table she was sitting at.
Her shout brings up gazes from people who were murmuring at other tables.
But she…….she has this carefree attitude. Not an attitude you’d expect from a wandering traveller, probably doing mercenary quests or some shit.
It’s incredibly odd how her extremely lax and carefree attitude actually is. Does she have the power and skills to back up her nonchalance?
“What would you like to eat?” A wide grin plasters her face as she looks at the piece of parchment on the table, a piece of parchment that has all of the types of food you can order on it.
“I’ll have something light, like a bowl of rice and milk…..along with some vegetables.” Calories are important, I went through enough biology lessons to understand that.
As long as I can get something heavy in carbohydrates and vitamins while also being extremely cheap, I can avoid straining on my expenses.
“Just that? You do know that this breakfast is my treat, right?” She starts laughing after hearing what I was planning to order.
I’m not interested in lavish cuisine or some fancy shit. I need to get used to minimalist food from now on, because that is going to be my main nutrition.
“I’m fine with just some rice, milk and vegetables.”
She furrows her eyebrows at my response. Why is she surprised?
Why would she expect me to order lavishly?
Back in the castle, I ate whatever I wanted. Yet now I can’t.
Why would she assume I would take the “generosity” of a stranger?
She should obviously know I will be suspicious of her.
Rather that that, if she acted wary and cautious of me, I would be less suspicious of her. As she would show common behaviour when dealing with a stranger she knows nothing about.
Her current behaviour can be chalked up to the fact that I am not a stranger to her, that she knows something about me.
“Excuse me, we’d like to order!” What’s going on in that head? Shouting at the waiter instead of just simply waving her hand. There is no way she’s that dense. She should clearly see all the other customers here looking at her weirdly.
She is trying to make herself appear as this naïve innocent girl who can’t read the room. She is trying so hard to pay me back for bumping into my door, that she is willing to buy me food?
She knows a lot about me and my sword, despite my sword looking like any other sword it’s in the sheath.
She can analyse swords at a glance, yet she puts on this incredibly ignorant innocent girl look.
That’s contradicting itself. You can’t be an innocent little girl who can’t read the room, while also being knowledgeable enough to tell how a special sword looks like when it’s in the sheath and only the hilt is visible.
She is clearly experienced in combat, yet acts like a stupid clumsy girl who bumps into doors and falls on the floor.
She is trying too hard to act.
The question is why?
Why is she deceiving me? Why show a face of you, that does not even belong to you?
Wait, maybe she is not the only actor.
“Rice with milk, along with some apples and cucumbers for this guy. And I’ll have…..”
That thought dawned me.
There may be other people acting with her in the show.
She may not be the only deceiver here.
There may be others.
I try to observe the room way more carefully and the people in it.
There are a few shady people on one of the tables in the furthest corner. There are also some normal people sitting and laughing about some jokes.
Hmmmm……..
“We may order more drinks later” As the girl finishes the order and the waiter leaves, I turn my full attention back to the girl.
“So what would miss like to talk about? Surely you didn’t treat me to lunch just as an apology for bumping into the door, right?” Her face freezes. Does she think I’m finally aware of her motives? “A beautiful girl such as yourself accompanying me for breakfast? You must have other matters to attend to that are more important, no?” Her face then relaxes a bit, she was clearly worried for a second.
She is worried that I am thinking too much about why she has invited me. She is worried that her excuse of bumping into the door to get me to have lunch here is no longer working.
She is definitely hiding a lot.
Yet when I throw delusional words such as “Aren’t beautiful girls like you supposed to be busy?”, she calms down, thinking I don’t suspect anything.
But what is it that I don’t know.
What am I missing?
That’s Right! The instinct.
That’s what’s missing.
Every enemy I meet, every obstacle I clash with, the instinct always warned me.
The only thing I’m feeling right now is the same fear from the blue-eyed monster from that cursed world.
I don’t feel any alert from the instinct due to the girl in front of me.
It means I’m not in danger…..yet.
“I really am sorry, and I was hoping you’d realize my sincerity.” Sincerity?
Is this some new kind of guilt tripping? She is trying to apologize, and make me feel guilty if I don’t accept this apology?
She is really acting.
“I have no doubts about your apology, nor the sincere words escaping your lips.” I respond in a curt tone.
I can’t show any more suspicion because she has turned the subject into “Do you not accept my sincere apology?”
“You really accept it?” And just as she says that, I can feel the warmth of her hand on top of my hand, that is laying on the table.
What the…..
“I really am sorry….” She edges her face closer to mine as her warm hand tightens its grasp around mine.
I couldn’t move my hand away as she would immediately think there is something wrong here.
She believes that I should act in a certain way, probably after carefully researching me. So if I were to react in a way other than the reaction she was expecting, she would believe I am aware of her motives.
A honeytrap.
What do I do? What do I-
*THROB*
What?!
My heart! It’s beating really fast.
But it’s not due to the closeness and intimacy of the girl in front of me.
It’s due to something else.
The instinct.
It’s alerting me.
It’s telling me there is an enemy nearby.
What the fuck?!
The girl really is an enemy! And to think I was doubting myself just a minute ago.
Upon realizing the reality of the situation I activate SENSE.
This newfound ability is relatively difficult to control. So I can only keep it running for a short time, plus it drains my holy reserves and has a cooldown a bit less than half an hour.
With my enhanced senses, I try to detect any unusual people, people who may be “actors” like her.
Shit, there is at least 3 people here who are keeping their eye on me, even though they are trying to hide it.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The alert the instinct is giving me isn’t stopping.
“Haah….” Her hot breath brushes my cheek as she blushes, her face just centimetres away from mine.
I can’t keep up the façade. There is no more need to be lenient.
MIGHT
SPEED
SHIELD
Activating 3 buffs at once, my body courses with energy, transcending it’s current limits and breaking the chains that tie it down.
*CRASH* THUMP*
As my body jumps up from it’s seat at once, my knee hits the wooden table, causing it to fall over.
This would force the girl to release her grip on my hand as she loses the balance off of her seat.
Well, it was expected that she would be surprised. I went from a drunk buffoon who was falling into her honey trap, into a cautious warrior who jumped up from his seat at lightning speed.
“Agh….” She groans as her butt hits the floor.
*CLANK* *RATTLE*
The sound of people standing up alerts me that her buddies had stood up from her chairs.
Even though I’m not facing their direction, I can clearly tell how many stood up thanks to the SENSE buff. Seven people, to be exact.
SEVEN!
That’s nearly half the people in this room?!
Not willing to lose the element of surprise I dash to the door as her buddies make a run towards me.
As I dash towards the door across the room, as fast as my legs can carry me. I wonder to myself……are there people across that door? Are there more of her buddies waiting outside? Standing watch and waiting for me if I try to escape?
Shit.
Regret wretches itself into my heart, as I realize how foolish I was to not escape immediately after entering the shower room.
Plus, I left my gold and my map (that has my future journey plans on it) upstairs in the bedroom.
I will have to change my plans on where to go in the future, plus, my financial situation is in an even worse position now.
Fuck. I am truly idiotic.
Not thinking anymore about it, I concentrate my energy on smashing through the wooden doors that make up the entrance to this café, in case there are people right behind it. (The SENSE isn’t picking up anybody right outside the door, but it’s best to be careful.)
*BAM* *CREAK*
The door opens at a speed it’s hinges couldn’t handle, and the hinges of the left door creaks as it fall off.
As I enter the street, I see everybody lay their eyes on me for a second thanks to my abrupt crash out of the café.
Yet I ignore them, as I suddenly see one of the people on the left side of café entrance, dash towards me as soon as he lays his eyes on me.
Realizing it’s one of her buddies, I make a dash towards the right and start running down the street.
Before I feel sorry about losing my gold, my map and other possessions, I run down the street in a hurry, grasping my sword tightly in case any more of her goons may pop out of the corners of the streets.
“Get over here, you motherfucker!!!” A saint-like voice shouts from the right of me. Looking in the direction of the voice as I am running, it’s the red-haired girl. And what’s more is that the voice isn’t from next to me, it’s from above me.
She is jumping on the rooftops of the buildings (which are mostly 2-3 floors tall).
And I know why she is there.
To not lose sight of me.
By staying in an area above ground, she can see more of the ground below her, thus keeping her eye on me even if my SPEED buff makes me way, way faster than her.
She is experienced in this.
I need to lose them, and to lose them, I need to enter some dark alleys, some shady streets, so I can hide in the darkness and get them off of my tail.