Part 3!

Enjoy ~

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[Muir]

Muir was currently crying inside of the wagon. She couldn’t move because her legs were shackled by a ball.

(Hick… Uoah… Uncle.)

She was miserable. She couldn"t help feeling vexed.

(Why am I always a hindrance?)

Arnold always saved her. Just when she"d thought that she could finally repay the favour, this happened and Arnold ended up getting hurt.

(Would it be better if I didn"t exist…? It would be better for him… This way, right?)

Muir"s eyes gradually dimmed. If she were to be killed here, Arnold would be released from his chains. Then he would be able to live as he liked. Her existence wasn"t necessary in this world.

(Uncle… Sorry… I"m sorry…)

Muir abandoned her other feelings and hung her head down in despair. While doing so…

"Mum, are we going to die?"

Those words pulled Muir back into reality. Muir slowly lifted her head and saw a child, younger than her clinging onto her mother.

The mother gently stroked the child"s head while smiling softly but Muir could see that the mother’s body was slightly trembling.

Little girl: "Is being a beastman really that bad? We only look a little bit different, right?"

The mother let out a troubled smile but still continued to stroke the girl"s head.

Mother: "I"m sorry, Ur. If only I didn"t insist on visiting this town…"

Little girl: "Uh ah, because dad…"

Mother: "Ur…"

Muir finally noticed that they were wearing light clothes for travel. They most likely stopped at this town on their way to their destination and unluckily for them, they were found by《Beast Cage》.

Mother: "I"m really sorry. You got involved because of us."

"Eh… Ah, no." Muir replied nervously because she was suddenly spoken to.

"I"m sorry." The girl named Ur said in the same apologetic tone as her mother.

Seeing the little girl filled with anxiety and her eyes swollen from crying, Muir knew that she couldn"t keep on hopelessly crying. Muir scolded herself for having such dark thoughts earlier.

How could Muir have thought that it would have been better for her to die, Arnold would definitely be sad if he knew. She understood this fact better than anyone. She didn"t want to die in a place like this. If she died in a place like this,

(Mum and dad will be angry!)

Her parents had told her to be happy and live her life to the fullest for their sakes. She shouldn"t betray their expectations by thinking such thoughts. They were still in town; that person would definitely come to save her.

Muir would properly apologize for being such a hindrance. Her spirit was lifted and she felt power swelling up inside of her. Then Muir turned to face Ur, gave her a faint smile and said,

Muir: "It"s scary, right…? I"m scared too. But, it"s okay!"

Ur: "…Eh?"

Muir: "There"s a hero in this town."

Ur: "A hero…?"

Muir omitted the words, for me. Arnold who had always came to her rescue, was just like a hero to Muir. That"s why she believed in him. That was the only thing she could do right now.

"Yes, so let"s wait and believe in him, okay? If you believe in him, he"ll surely come to save us." Muir said while smiling.

Ur turned to face her mother and her mother gave a small nod in return. Ur brightened up and smiled.

Ur: "Yeah! I believe you! The hero will come to save us!"

Muir: "Yes!"

"You"re too noisy, Beastman!" The man who looked into the wagon shouted.

Muir: "It"s okay. Just a little bit more… It"s okay."

Muir gently stroked Ur"s head as if she was her own sister and Ur slightly relaxed.

Muir was still slightly trembling in fear but in order to cheer up herself and Ur, she thought to herself,

(He"ll definitely come… Uncle. And… I don"t know if that person will come but…)

She didn"t know much about Hiiro but he wasn"t the type of person who would move unless he had something to gain. But if he was to come, she felt they had a chance to be rescued.

(Why… When I think about that person coming here… Hiiro-san…)

It would be good if there was something here that interested him. She could only pray that there was. Yes, all she could do was wait and pray.

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"Sir Abel has arrived, Folse-sama."

Folse, was the man who commanded 《Beast Cage》, he was also the person who had defeated Arnold.

"Okay."

Folse gave a small bow towards the person his subordinate brought in.

"It"s been a while, Abel-dono."

Abel was an overweight, middle-aged man. Most of his hair was parted to one side1 and he had really oily skin. He looked like a muggy man.

Abel: "No, no, you always do me great favours. So, don"t worry. Hah, it sure is hot here, isn"t it?"

All the people around them thought, (It"s just you). Abel was unaware of their thoughts and used a handkerchief to wipe a large amount of sweat off his face.

Abel: "So, can I check the goods right away?"

"Please, this way." Folse guided Abel to a single wagon.

"Oo-oh! Oho~!"

As soon as Abel saw the 《Beastman》inside of the wagon, his nostrils flared in excitement. Of course it was Muir and co.

Unpleasant feelings swept through the three upon seeing Abel"s unnatural reaction. Abel appraised them with lewd eyes while licking his lips.

Abel: "Well would you look at that, Us.h.i.+s.h.i.+. They"re real beauties ~! I"m always pleased by your work, Folse-dono!"

Folse: "I"m humbled by your words."

Abel looked at Muir"s silver hair and raised a voice of admiration.

Abel: "Oh my ~, what is that girl? Silver hair? How rare ~. Could she be a 『Silver Wolf』? If that"s the case, she"d be quite the rare purchase! Upon closer inspection, aren"t those two from my favourite 《Cat-kin》2? Us.h.i.+s.h.i.+s.h.i.+s.h.i.+!"

Abel"s looked at them with his oily face and in a small voice Ur said, "Gross", but her mother put a hand over her mouth to shut her up.

Folse: "So, are you okay with the purchase?"

Abel: "Of course, of course!"

Folse"s subordinate handed him the contract and he showed it to Abel.

Folse: "If you could please channel your magic here to complete the contract."

Abel: "I"m always grateful towards you! Us.h.i.+s.h.i.+."

Folse: "Not at all, this is one way to use those filthy beastman."

Abel: "Us.h.i.+s.h.i.+s.h.i.+s.h.i.+! You"re too evil."

The moment Abel"s hand touched the contract——

*Bwoom*

Something hit the contract and a sparkling sound was heard before it bursted into flames. Folse instinctively moved his hands away. The burning paper fell on top of Abel"s hair and his hair caught on fire.

Abel: "Us.h.i.+! Wh-wh-what?! Hoooott!"

Abel quickly put out the fire on his head with his short hands. Needless to say, all the people in the surrounding area were dumbfounded and froze on the spot. They couldn"t understand what was happening in front of them. Then someone came down from the roof of a building.

"You are…" As if looked could kill, Folse glared at the person.

"I"m taking Muir back!" Arnold said while thrusting his sword in front of him. His blue hair was ruffled up and he looked angry.

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[Arnold]

"Uncle!" Muir had recognized Arnold"s voice and called out happily from inside of the wagon.

Arnold: "Muir! You were safe! I"m so glad ~!"

Muir was relieved to hear his cheerful voice and relaxed. However, she soon stiffened realising that he was alone and surrounded by enemies.

Folse: "Muahaha, I won"t ask why you came here. It"s obvious you came here to rescue the beastman over there, right?"

Arnold: "That"s right!"

Folse: "I remember telling you to value your life."

Arnold: "Ah, that"s why I"ll defeat you all, and leave safely from this town!"

Folse: "Are you stupid?"

Arnold: "That"s you, for doing something so stupid!"

Folse looked amazed then sighed.

Folse: "You"re a human, why don"t you act a bit smarter?"

Arnold: "I am…!"

Folse: "…?"

Arnold suddenly stuck his a.s.s out at Folse. Then something popped out…

Arnold: "I"m a beastman, Stupid!"

"?!" It wasn"t just Folse, everyone there couldn"t contain their surprise. They didn"t think that Arnold was a beastman. Because he didn"t have…

"But you… Don"t have animal ears?" Abel muttered. Arnold answered him while smirking,

"Pooh, you humans ripped my ears off! By the way, these are prosthetic!"

He stuck out his chest as if he was boasting, but he wasn"t. Because he confessed everything while looking cheerful, he had grabbed their attention.

(Good, just as planned. I leave it up to you, Hiiro!)

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[Hiiro]

"Looks like things went smoothly."

Hiiro stood behind the building and nodded in satisfaction at seeing the contract being burnt. Yes, the contract was burnt with 『Fire (火) 』. Even if it hadn"t hit the contract, there wouldn"t have been any problems.

If it had landed elsewhere, the people surrounding Folse and Abel would have been confused from a sudden fire outbreak. It was highly probable for them to drop the contract in the midst of confusion and then it would get caught in the fire.

So Hiiro shot the character near Folse and Abel. It was only luck that he had hit the contract. All Hiiro had to do was wait and without a hitch Arnold appeared in front of Folse. Arnold did well in attracting their attention just as planned.

"Alright, I should go."

Hiiro wrote 『Hide (隠) 』onto the back of his hand and activated it. This character dimmed his presence and allowed him to go unnoticed. But the effects only lasted for a minute so he had to hurry.

He moved quickly and headed towards the wagon that contained the books. He moved quietly behind the people from《Beast Cage》. As expected from 《Word Magic》, he went by unnoticed. Arnold would also be amazed at the effects of Hiiro"s magic.  Hiiro nimbly got onto the wagon and took out a wrapping cloth from his pocket.

(Alright~, this is it.)

He wrapped a one kilo book in the wrapping cloth. Then he looked at the book that he couldn"t confirm earlier.

『World"s Best! Girl"s with the Biggest B・O・O・B・S! 』

Hiiro stiffened. He instinctively threw it into the back of the wagon and pretended that he didn"t see it. He wrapped up a total of five volumes into the wrapping cloth. A minute had pa.s.sed since he had used『Hide (隠) 』.

《Word Magic》had limitations, so he couldn"t write the same word consecutively. He had to use a different character first before he could use『Hide (隠) 』again. Hiiro wrote 『Send (送) 』onto the wrapping cloth and activated it.

The wrapping cloth suddenly disappeared from its place. Since he had experimented with this character beforehand, he didn"t panic. Hiiro had sent the wrapping cloth to the corner of a flowerbed at the nearby house. He figured that it wouldn"t be found there.

Hiiro once again wrote『Hide (隠) 』onto his body and activated it. Now it was time to fulfil Arnold"s request.

When they had finished talking at the inn, Arnold had told him that he would cook up an exquisite ingredient for him to eat, as payment for saving Muir. It was just like Hiiro to accept a request for food.

Hiiro immediately headed to the wagon that Muir was on.

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2. I changed it in the previous chapter as well↩