Chapter 67: Taking Stock and the Pursuer

After learning that I had been falsely accused, we decided to capture, with our own hands, the people using my name to commit crimes.

I wanted to set out immediately, but first there was information we needed to organize.

"All right. We need to investigate first… Lilina, Alisha, do you know which town this counterfeit gold is circulating in, and where it is?"

Lilina searched her memory before answering.

“The town suffering the greatest losses is apparently called Galan. Galan is the town that manages the mines where they extract gold, right?”

Lilina glanced at Alisha. Alisha nodded, then looked back at me.

“I know it’s somewhere to the south, but I don’t know its exact location.”

“Galan… Galan, huh?”

What should we do? I’d never heard the town’s name before. I didn’t think it had even appeared in the anime.

I knew this world almost exclusively through the anime. Kane had always handled navigation in the story, so hearing a town's name didn't tell me where it was.

In short, I had no idea how to reach it.

I imagined we could solve that by asking a coachman, but returning to town and finding one now would be difficult.

We could have Lilina and Alisha hire a carriage, but the people in that town already knew the three of us traveled together.

Even if only I was wanted, if Lilina and Alisha tried to hire a carriage, anyone could guess that I intended to join them later.

And even if they successfully found one, the coachman might refuse to carry only me.

False accusation or not, this was trouble involving Lloyd. I couldn’t imagine anyone accepting the job.

“For now, we’ll have to walk to the nearest town. It’s far, but that’s the safest—Lilina?”

As I spoke, Lilina’s ears twitched. She turned around, and both ears began twitching more sharply.

“Lloyd-sama, someone is coming this way.”

“…Have the pursuers already found us?”

Apparently, someone had entered the range of Lilina's 'Presence Detection'.

I grimaced and stared in the direction she faced, but whoever it was hadn’t yet entered the range of my vision.

But how had they found our location?

Had Lilina and Alisha been followed? No. With those two, could that really have happened?

While I considered it, Alisha stared intently in the same direction.

"'Far Sight'… Lilina is right. There's one man. He resembles the rough men we saw in town and appears to be wandering around. Oh, he's turning back."

“Turning back?”

I knitted my brows.

If he’d wandered around before retreating, he probably didn’t know our exact position.

Since we weren’t in town, he was likely just expanding the search area. The fact that he quickly turned around supported that theory.

“Then let’s stay quiet here a little longer. We’ll leave once he’s completely gone.”

The girls nodded in agreement.

Honestly, I wanted information about the people pursuing me. Still, we couldn’t remain near that town any longer.

We would have to gather whatever information we could while heading toward Galan.

“Hm?”

As I gazed toward the retreating man I still couldn't see and thought it over, an idea suddenly occurred to me.

Three of us against one man in a forest reminded me of the time we had abducted Lena from Kane’s party.

“…Alisha, is the man truly alone?”

“Yes. I’m certain.”

“Lilina, is anyone else pursuing us?”

“No. He’s the only one.”

After confirming it with both girls, I paused and nodded.

“Good. Let’s abduct him.”

“”Huh?””

Both girls made vacant sounds.

We lacked far too much information. In that case, we could capture a pursuer and make him talk.

…No one could escape a surprise attack from our party, could they?

Plotting like a proper villain, I grinned.

It was time for us to strike back, if only a little.