◇

A few minutes later.

The a.s.sa.s.sins were talking to each other after I came out of the building.

‘He’s just leaving by the main entrance.’

‘…So I guess he hasn’t noticed that we’ve been following him.’

It seemed that they had been worried that I had realized I was being spied on and would try to shake them off by leaving through a back exit.

They never would have guessed that I had known from the beginning and was continuing to fool them.

…Well, it was actually the slimes that had told me.

‘You were being paranoid. There are hundreds of people in this town. No one would notice that they were being followed unless they were specially trained.’

‘That’s true.’

‘More importantly, I’m curious about what quest he took—but we won’t be able to read it at this distance.’

‘We’ll find out as we follow him.’

So they were curious about the quest I had accepted.

I could just take it out and hold it in a way that would be easy for them to see…but that seemed too obvious and risky.

Instead, I would just go do it.

Thinking this, I left the town while taking the Proud Wolf and slimes with me.

According to the receptionist, there were a lot of Rush Bulls in the surrounding forest.

It was an E-Rank quest, so they were not likely to be very strong.

And so I asked the slime,

‘Where are the Rush Bulls?’

‘Uh…over there!’

The slime pointed at the forest.

I heard this and—went in a direction that was a short distance away from it.

‘Yuji! That’s not where they are!’

‘Yeah. I’m taking a longer route. …It will look suspicious to my pursuers if I find them right away.’

‘Okay!’

And so I took my time heading towards the Rush Bulls.

On the way, I said to my monsters,

‘I don’t want the a.s.sa.s.sin to know about it, so there will be no attack magic this time.’

‘Oh, no attack magic… Then how will you fight?’

The Proud Wolf asked. He did not sound very concerned.

Well, this was one time when it did concern him.

‘Proud Wolf. What’s my job?’

‘You’re a Tamer.’

‘Yes. …And how do Tamers usually fight?’

‘They make their tamed monsters fight the enemy!’

…So he wasn’t stupid.

‘Exactly. …Proud Wolf. I’m counting on you.’

‘What!?’

There were 3 of them. …It seemed like the perfect number.

‘There are your monsters.’

‘…Where?’

And so I pointed at the Rush Bulls.

The Proud Wolf looked towards them hesitantly.

‘Hah! Those guys look really weak!”

He suddenly sounded very cheerful.

Apparently, he regarded the Rush Bulls as being weaker than him.

‘Proud Wolf. Will you do it for us?’

‘Leave it to me! I’ll wipe those weaklings out in no time!’

The Proud Wolf said happily as he charged forward.

Perhaps it was a characteristic of Proud Wolves to become cheerful when facing weaker enemies.

When I had first met him, he had attacked me quite menacingly. But then he shrunk down the moment he realized that he couldn’t win.

As I thought about this—the a.s.sa.s.sins also noticed that the battle had started.

‘Oh, he’s encountered a monster.’

‘What monster?’

‘3 Rush Bulls. Well, they’re small fry.’

“…Well, it’s still a fight. We should get a closer look.’

It seemed like they were going to come closer to watch.

…Hmm. I was actually quite grateful for that. The Proud Wolf didn’t usually fight, so he might as well have a bigger audience.

As soon as they saw that I was just an ordinary Tamer, they would take me off of the a.s.sa.s.sination list.