Intermission: The Back Seen by The Boy ②

Despite his face and demeanor, he did not cause any problems, on the contrary, he accomplished his requests quickly and accurately...that was the impression the guild staff had of him.

"...Huh? What are you doing?"

It seemed that he was not interested in such things, so she thought he would ignore him, but Gray approached the boy while calling out to us.

When one of the guild officials explained the situation to Gray, he glared at the official with even sharper eyes.

"Heh... So, why didn't you accept the request quickly? You know it's urgent, right? There's no lower limit to the quest fee, hurry up and make a request form."

When told this, the staff member hurriedly went behind the counter.

Then Gray approaches the boy and talks to him. At that time, the boy was startled and stepped back a little, making Gray look a little sad.

"…You've come to the Adventurers Guild, you want to help your family, don't you?”

The answer is obvious. The boy nodded while holding back his tears.

"I see. Let me ask you a few questions, do you know where the adults who brought you to this city are now?"

"They're doing ...... business in the town square."

After that, Gray asked a few more questions, and the boy, who was scared at first, found himself able to answer them normally.

"Oh, I see... okay."

The guild staff who were around were puzzled by Gray's actions.

“Um, Gray-san. I was wondering if you might be requesting..."

As soon as Sasha opens her mouth, a staff member comes out from behind the counter with a request form that he had prepared. He took the request form from the hand of the staff member who was about to post it on the bulletin board.

“I'll take this request. It seems to be a band of thieves of a certain size, and they must have accumulated a good deal of money.”

"Eh... are you serious? I'm pretty sure you didn't form a party, Gray-san... you're going alone?"

At this time, Gray is C rank... It's not strange to receive a request to exterminate bandits. But that's when you're in a party.

“You know it when you see it...Most of the time I'm solo, so I can take on requests like this."

At this point, Gray was still concerned about the time he disbanded the party he was putting together, and he said so with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

Sasha, not knowing this, was thinking to the extent that (well, surely if he had been in a party, the other members would have stopped him from taking this request...).

Then, after the request is processed, Gray walks toward the exit, muttering, "I guess I'll start from the plaza first..." On the way he stopped and looked back at the boy.

“I will definitely fulfill your request. So just wait here a little longer.”

With that, he started walking again.

The boy stared at Gray's back without saying anything.

The hideout of the bandits who attacked the boy was located near the site of the carriage attack, in a cave originally used by another bandit group, unknown to the bandits themselves.

If only one of these bandits had serious scouting skills, they would never have thought of living here. But these bandits were lucky to find a cave in the right place...that's all they thought about.

The passengers of the carriage who had been captured by the bandits at that time were lying tied hand and feet in a room at the back of the cave, some crying, some comforting others, and some lying on their faces without speaking..

Meanwhile, the bandits are drinking in a large room in the center of the cave, except for the guards at the entrance to the cave and in front of the back room.

"Hahaha! No, It's been a rough job. This time of year, there are more carriages, and the guards are all pretty much useless!"

"I'm telling you, man! The only damage we got was from some idiot chasing after some kids who ran away and he fell and hurt himself!"

The leader of the band of thieves and his men are in a good mood as they drink and talk about the day's work.

“But you let one male kid escape, are you okay with that?"

"It's all right, what can a kid like that possibly do? Is he going to hire an adventurer and even get revenge?"

In a cave filled with the sound of unpleasant laughter, there was one man who seemed to be in a foul mood. When he went into the woods chasing after the kids mentioned earlier, he tripped on a tree trunk and fell, breaking his right index finger. The man who was made a mockery of, held his aching finger with the other hand, clicked his tongue, and left the room.

(Shit! I'm pissed off. I'm going to take my anger out on that kid's family. They said I shouldn't mess with them because it's a "sale", but I don't mind a little bit. The daughter is just a kid, so I'll deal with the mother.)

The man, who had walked out of the room at random in frustration, had come close to the cave entrance and was about to turn on his heel and head for the back of the cave when he heard the sound of something falling to the ground.

“What? Hey, what's up? ......, stop joking around."

The man called out to the outside, but there was no reply. He goes outside, thinking it's a prank by his friends anyway.

“Enough… Huh?!”

There lay the corpse of his companion, head and torso separated. The head was facing the man, and when his eyes met the head, the man backed away in fear.

I need to tell my comrades about this soon... forgetting his anger just now, the man tried to go back into the cave, but he bumped into something and fell on his butt.

"What the hell is this...?"

The man who swore looked up...

"Yo. You are the ones who robbed a carriage near here today, aren't you?...Oh, I don't need a reply, I'll kill you anyway."

A strange man was there. Was he a competitor by any chance? That was the last thought of this bandit's life.

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