Nidome no Yuusha

Chapter 8: The Hero is both a Stalker and a Shinigami Part 2

I was chasing after the man who was running ahead of me.

I was well aware that the man had made an agreement with the hoodlums who assaulted me. Of course, I also knew about the contents of said agreement. If you want to know why, it’s because they did the exact same thing in my first life. I forcibly made him spit out everything he’s trying to conceal at that time, such as the management (trades inside) of the city. Through this, I also found the one behind everything.

That’s why I was well aware that this man was secretly watching the current situation from somewhere. I’ve already deduced that he’s going to report the situation to the man behind the scenes, Shitty Glasses. So I took the opportunity to use him, and followed him to the place where Shitty Glasses was residing.

Though I remembered the place where I first met the slum boss, but because it’s a position often targeted, he uses a magic tool to change the building’s location to various points inside the slums. That’s why, even if I were to go to the location of our first encounter, it wouldn’t necessarily lead me to his hideout.

While chasing him without letting him sense me, I confirmed my status, and I realized that I’d obtained two new skills: 『Stalking Lv2』 and 『Hide Presence Lv1』. As I’d thought, it’s far easier for me to learn the skills I knew in my previous life. Although all my skill levels were reset, I already knew how to activate all the skills. Because of this, I think that I might be able to raise all my skill levels waaay faster than expected.

While I was chasing him and pondering about such things, I realized that he seemed to be rather anxious, as he was guiding me to the secret hideout using the shortest possible route.

In my first life, I was surprised about this spy’s level of wariness. After all, he was once an intelligence agent of some country long ago. I also had to acknowledge resourcefulness as an information broker. However, he was a coward; particularly, he was a man who prioritized his own survival, running away in the face of danger. He was even scared after sensing my blood lust when I killed those hoodlums, even though it wasn’t directed at him.

Killing each other is an everyday occurrence in these slums. Someone would even decapitate a kid just to obtain a piece of bread, even fighting to death over a rotten fruit. The psychopathic killers who frequently appeared in the slums were often killed by the ones who controlled the slums.

It’s an extremely rare case that a day in the slums ends without a single death. Even now, as I pursue the spy, there are people here in the slums fighting over some food.

Just like in my first life, the spy seemed unaffected by by the deaths of others. Perhaps he sensed danger encroaching upon him this time when he saw me slaughter those hoodlums. Maybe that’s why he thought he would lose his life if he were to be found.

After the man entered the compound, I waited a bit before entering myself.

There was a familiar looking gate made of steel, safeguarded by two enshrined gargoyle statues.

「「The password is?」」

「A~h, I had almost forgotten about these guys……」

I scratched my head, thinking for a moment that I had screwed it up. Last time the password wasn’t a problem since I’d forced the spy to guide me. I didn’t want to make a messy entrance this time, so I decided to follow him secretly, which meant I’d missed out on the password.

The one I’m going to meet now isn’t one of my revenge targets. In fact, he was neither my enemy, nor my ally. I repeat, he’s definitely not my ally. He’s the type of person who will nonchalantly do anything as long as there’s some profit. One who partners with someone only for the profits, and will partner with anyone as long as money is involved.

I only know that he will never tell lies. Aside from that, I have no idea of what methods he’s going to use. Since the very beginning, he was someone who declared openly that as long as there is gain, loyalties are not set in stone.

A relation only to use and be used.

Even so, he was the most decent one among the ones that I had a relationship with. In addition, he’s the one I want to sell the stolen necklace to. There’s no benefit for me if I were to appear as a hostile party at the start of sales negotiations with him. If I screw up my first impressions, then he’ll take advantage of it during the negotiations.

I needed to act extremely careful when contacting him. If I don’t, he would draw information out even without me noticing. This information would end up being bought by other people, mainly information brokers like the spy. I could always just pay a fee to keep it confidential, and he won’t talk about it ever again.

With a healthy body, battle wisdom, decency in alchemy, and his analysis comprehension,which is off the charts, Shitty Glasses is by no means an individual that I can neglect.

「Though it may be sudden, could you let me meet with your boss?」

「「The password, please?」」

It seems the gargoyles didn’t have any intention to hold a conversation. Though I didn’t think that Shitty Glasses would keep using the same password, I only knew of one. So without any other option, I try using a password from 3-5 years in the future.

「………『Inverse fur of the Nezulla Rabbit』」

「「Wrong, leave at once. You’re an uninvited guest.」」

「Sigh-, if I knew at the beginning that it would end this way then I wouldn’t have even tried.」

The seemingly immovable gargoyles leapt from their pedestals using their stone wings. They moved towards me, as if I had been marked as a target for elimination. The gargoyles opened their mouths and started to invoke magic, but at the same time, I went to confront them head on.

Unlike the dragon-kin breath, which excels in dealing massive damage over a wide area, the breath of gargoyle just goes straight forward like a laser beam, and has a very limited range too. Even with my skills being sealed, gargoyles, which are man-made, are no match for me as they can only do simple movements.

Slipping through the lasers, I hit one of the gargoyles. Its skin was hard, as expected of a gargoyle, seemingly impossible to break with my current status. Manipulating my mana, I left my legs and eyes strengthened as they already were, and concentrated the rest of my mana to my arm, strengthening it too, albeit temporarily. Although the parts of the body where magic is collected are greatly enhanced, the other parts weaken dramatically. This made it look like a desperate move, but with these pitiful stats, my second chance at life would be gone if I get hit.

Although I could have avoided using this strategy, it would require the use of a spirit sword, a trump card I wasn’t keen on revealing. Even if it couldn’t be helped that I’d used the 【Fire Spider Leg Sword】 on the hoodlum, I had to consider that he, Shitty Glasses, could be monitoring me through the gargoyles. I wasn’t feeling all that eager to give him information right now.

Moreover, these gargoyles are fire-elementals, in other words, they are able to withstand high temperatures. A fearful opponent indeed for fire magicians, who excel at offensive magic. This rendered the blade’s small length and heat ability ineffective against the gargoyles. Making the 【Fire Spider Leg Sword】 the worst choice by affinity.

In exchange, strengthening by mana manipulation manipulates the mana internally, saving MP. While it has downsides, this level of attack from the gargoyle won’t possibly hit me.

「Guruuuu!?」

「Gugaa!?」

First I struck out at their wings, breaking them, and in doing so preventing them from taking to the skies. While they were still dazed by my actions, I stepped on their arms, sealing their movements. The gargoyles were helpless as I took their legs into my hands and swung them in the ground, causing their heads to split open like watermelons. But the fight wasn’t over yet. Gargoyles could continue fighting no matter the state of their body, as long as they had a source of power that is. I gouged their eyeballs, the source of their power, from their shattered heads, silencing the gargoyles.

「Who!? Who the hell are you!?」

There was a lone man of medium build who seemed to have come to investigate the sounds of battle. He unsheathed his sword in haste and came this way. Since it would no longer go peacefully, I put my finger in the gargoyle’s caved in eye socket and threw its body against the man, causing the gargoyle’s neck to be ripped off.

「Guuhaaah!?」

Hit by an unexpected way of attack, the man was unable to evade the gargoyle’s body and was flung to the wall.

It seemed like his broken bones may have punctured his internal organs. Backed by a wall, he began to slide slowly to the floor, while he coughed blood.

「You bastard… how dare you beat Hamnz!! 」

Leaving the man as it is, I entered through the door and spotted another slim man of delicate features, he drew his sword and started attacking me. This time, using the【Fire Spider Leg Sword】, I warded his sword off, and while we were at it, using the gargoyle head that I was holding, I struck his knees with it and made him flinch, and I grabbed his arms while I kicked the man’s back to dislocate his arms. In the end, I dislocated all his limbs and hyperextended them.

「Guhh.. GUAAAAAAA!!??」

「You!! You little shit, how dare you!?」

It would become troublesome if more people were to assault me, so I pour a thick and overpowering blood thirst to some of my magic and released it in an aura.

Though the personnel were different, they were bodyguards employed by Shitty Glasses, anyway. At most, they were middle class adventurers, or fallen knights; in other words, muscle brains without magic resistance, so the mana laced with blood lust did the trick.

I looked around, but I couldn’t find the man who was monitoring me. It is highly probable that he is reporting about me, inside Shitty Glasses’ office, located at the end of the hall on the second floor.

Suddenly looking down, I found the slender man with the hyperextended limbs. Well, I might as well use him instead of the blood lust. It will be impossible to keep up the friendly act, since I broke his gargoyles and injured his men.

I grabbed the slender man by the nape of his neck and climbed the stairs without even caring about the man who has been groaning in pain as he was constantly hit by the stairs.

When I went straight to the room at the end of the hall, there were “Physical and Magical Barrier” and “Sound-Proof barrier” blocking the way. Because both hands were occupied, I had no choice but to kick the door with the maximum amount of my magic, using mana manipulation technique for an instant.

「Hello, are you perhaps the boss of these slums? 」

As it was supposed to be my first encounter with Shitty Glasses, I uttered those words to him.

Inside the room, there was Shitty Glasses that looked at me with a calm face which made it impossible to read his mind, and the stalking target, my guide, that looked at me with a pale face.

「Ah, thanks for guiding me. Just for that, I’m going to forget about the previous matters.」

After I say so, I turn my gaze to Shitty Glasses, and put on my business smile.

It’s the start of our negotiation.