And here is an extra extra chapter. Just because I had finished it already. It’s a bit more serious than the last chapter. Enjoy.

The Preceding Hero and the Raiders of the Dark Night

As the sound of rainfall became intense, the rain that hit Yuu"s skin that was sticking out a bit from his grey overcoat also became stronger.
Covering himself from the head down with an overcoat as a replacement for a raincoat, Yuu was sitting on top of the caravan"s wagon.
He did so because if it was from here, he would be able to survey the surroundings.
The people of the merchant troupe were in the middle of sleeping in either the wagons or in the tents and Yuu was gazing out to see if there were any disasters while paying attention to presences in the surroundings.
Yuu, who was originally unskillful in sensing presences, made full use of his sense of sight and sense of hearing, which towered above the rest when compared to normal people, and was vigilant of the surroundings.

Just as he did three years ago, Yuu freely used his sense of sight and sense of hearing and took up to being on night watch.

(Still, it sure is amazing. This is a heavy rain that could be enough to belong to a typhoon or something.)

With the overcoat already being unable to do anything but keep Yuu"s field of vision being wet, his whole body was soaking wet.

Even while his whole body was soaked, Yuu single-mindedly worked hard to be vigilant of the surroundings.

And then, after who knows how many minutes or how many hours had pa.s.sed, he abruptly noticed an oddity.

(What"s that? ……I can hear a strange sound mixed in with the sound of the rain.)

That was a sound that a person normally shouldn"t have caught on to. Even for the beasts that live in the forest, it was a type of sound that they might or might not have noticed.

But it might just be some kind of mistake.
Just as he thought of that possibility as being likely,

(……It"s, something"s foosteps.)

*Basha* (Splash). There was the sound of a puddle being stepped in.

(Is it a beast? If that"s the case, it"s be best to just take it down but……)

Yuu, who was standing on his knees on top of the wagon, made his posture as low as possible while turning his eyes towards the forest.
He hadn"t noticed where the sound of the puddle being stepped on had come from. Therefore, he didn"t know where they would come from.

(If it"s a type of bandit……it"ll turn into something troublesome.)

Reaching his hand out to the pouch attached to his waist behind him, he held some throwing knives in his hand.
He took a stance where he could immediately throw them if need be.

And then, while he was in that stance, although it was m.u.f.fled due to muddy ground but still unable to be completely erased, footsteps could be heard coming from the surroundings. They were gradually getting closer.

(We"re surrounded!? Moreover……what a number of them!)

As the footsteps were gradually getting louder, he was also surprised by the number of footsteps.
If they were four-legged beasts, there would be ten of them. If it were to be converted to people, the footsteps of no less than about twenty people could be heard coming.

The owners of the footsteps were clearly aiming for this caravan.
They were slowly approaching while surrounding it.

The moment that he considered waking up Bernadette and the merchants, there was a unique 「Giriri」 sound of the bowstring of a bow being drawn.

(So they"re thieves!)

Throwing a knife in the direction of the sound, he simultaneously kicked off the wagon and a.s.sailed the thief that possessed the bow.

As he got down in front of the fellow that panicked after noticing that the bowstring that they were about to fire the arrow from was cut,

「……Cen…taur?」

Yuu involuntarily stopped moving from that appearance that was like a union of a horse and a person.

「Kuh!」

The Centaur that was wearing rain gear just like Yuu took some distance from Yuu, and, in exchange, another Centaur came in from the side with a spear.

Centaurs are a hunting race as well as a combat group that could easily make use of spears and halberds in battle.
Centaurs should have been a tribe that was proud and always tried to be n.o.ble.

「And yet why……Why are you doing this kind of thief-like behavior!」

Attacking with a group at the time of night where people are sleeping, that was truly something thieves would do, isn"t it.
While tightly grasping a spearhead that was aimed at himself from his side and smashing the spear just like that, Yuu shouted.

The Centaur of the spear that was broken gasped, and then, having been hit in the neck by a hand that was used like a blade that was fired with a speed that couldn"t be seen with the naked eye, just like that, *Basha*, a large sound was made and it collapsed.

「All of you guys are Centaurs, aren"t you!? I"ve heard that Centaur warriors are all proud and n.o.ble! So why did you come at the dead of night like this and even sneakily move in the middle of the rain!!」

Stepping on the head of the collapsed Centaur enough so that its head wouldn"t smash, Yuu shouted with a voice loud enough that it wouldn"t lose to the sound of the rainfall while pointing the tip of the sword at its neck.

With even the sound of the rain stopping for an instant, once again, the sound of rainfall began to ring.

「If you don"t feel like answering, this guy"s head will fly, you know?」

Centaurs also treasured their relatives.
There was a Centaur that was clearly disturbed from a hostage being taken.

「Wait! Don"t kill Nii-san!」

The Centaur whose bowstring was cut tossed their rain gear and started running towards Yuu.

「I don"t intend to kill him. Though, that"s only if you guys answer me.」

Keeping his green jewel sword pointed at the collapsed Centaur, Yuu said that.

「Please……Don"t kill him.」

He couldn"t see the face or the body due to the rain gear, but the Centaur was a blonde, beautiful woman.
Yuu, who would normally have a reaction to that, ended it at the level of taking a glance at the female Centaur.

「Who"s the one that leads you guys. Is it this guy?」

When he asked that while stepping on the collapsed Centaur"s head a bit stronger, a Centaur that had their body wrapped up in rain gear appeared from his right.

「It"s me.」

Maybe because they were roused from having their brethren being taken hostage, that Centaur said that with an irritated voice.

「Why did you attack. Were you aiming for something of monetary value?」

When Yuu asked, that Centaur undid their rain gear and showed their face while they shouted.

「It was, to rescue our kidnapped brethren!」

A light chestnut[1] woman glared at Yuu as if he were her parents" enemy.

Translator’s Notes:
[1] This is referring to the coat of her horse half.