Sometimes, when one played games, one would come across maps where both NPCs and monsters coexisted.

In the original ‘Legend of Heroes’, the ‘Slums’ were such a place. Pickpocket NPCs and humanoid monsters called Pickpockets coexisted with each other. There were too few mobs in that place to call it a hunting ground and too many to call it a safe zone.

You might ask me why I was bringing that up.

“Uargh!”

“Your courage is commendable.”

Unlike in the original, there were no words floating above the characters’ heads, so it wasn’t easy to tell whether they were mobs or NPCs. Daaamn it.

I approached him thinking that he was an NPC and almost got pickpocketed.

“There are some things God absolutely forbids. One of them is theft.”

On another note, the Inquisitor was in a rather bitter mood all while we were walking through the slums……I could see why.

It seemed our sheltered kimchi dumpling felt rather uncomfortable meeting with people that violated the word of God.

“Shit, why am I so unlucky……?”

The person who had just tried to slip his hand into my pocket around my waist and got kicked by me in the process, curled up and hurled some abusive language at us. As a result, the Inquisitor’s expression turned cold and she took out her mace.

“Those who steal should have their hands—”

“Let’s keep it at that, Inquisitor.”

“Huh?”

“It isn’t bad to follow doctrines and rules, but one doesn’t have to do that at every moment of one’s life.”

“But that person is a sinner.”

“Sometimes it’s necessary to show mercy, don’t you think?”

“…show mercy?”

“Yes, mercy.”

“……”

Even after listening to the Archmage’s words, the Inquisitor didn’t seem to have quite understood what he meant. One could clearly see her straightforwardness through her ignorance.

Well, not that it mattered. It wasn’t anything I really cared about.

“We heard that the number of pickpockets has gone down by quite a lot these days, is that true?”

I felt like he would classify as a mob as he tried to pickpocket me, but I asked him just in case. Unlike the original, in which these types of people were classified as monsters, they might have promoted these characters to just hostile NPCs. Or this might also be part of the plot — If the player managed to catch one they could interrogate them and if they let them slip they had to chase them. That could be possible.

If that wasn’t the case, I would just take care of the matter when I got there.

“Wha-what are you talking about?”

Why was he being so uncooperative?

“I won’t ask you twice.”

Considering what the Inquisitor just wanted to do, it seemed like those who committed theft would have their hands cut off. Well it would be a good way to get information.

I took out my Longsword without any hesitation. The Archmage, who had just managed to calm down the Inquisitor, balked, but I didn’t care.

“Answer or lose your hand.”

I gently stepped on the pickpocket’s chest with my foot, and moved the tip of my sword towards his wrist.

The beautiful sunlight highlighted the hasty movements of his adam’s apple.

“Eek! I-I don’t know! It’s true that our territory has become wider, but……!”

“In detail. Why has it become wider?”

“S-some pickpockets that used to be here just vacated the area. Tha-that’s all.”

“Their whereabouts?”

“I don’t know. It isn’t even that strange that one or two people suddenly go into hiding around these parts to begin with!”

「❖ Ominous Sign

∎ Talk to pickpockets 1 / ?

∎ Talk to beggars 0 / ?」

He didn’t know anything. As soon as I came to that conclusion, the count in my quest window went up.

Given that the number of people I had to talk to wasn’t limited would mean that I should just talk to as many as I could until I got the information I needed.

In addition, I found out that I could get information from these mobs who may or may not be just hostile NPCs.

“Is there anyone who knows more about this than you?”

Ah, but I still had to ask him one more question.

“Ki-king hound might know. All pickpockets of this district have to give him part of their money.”

“Location.”

“Wha-what?”

“Location.”

Kuuuh. I could even ask him things like that? Aside from the fact that he didn’t give me the answer I wanted, interrogating others was quite some fun.

I was currently experiencing this exhilarating pleasure of being able to interrogate that guy in a cold voice roleplaying as my character. In other games, one could only ask questions through given options, but here it was possible to ask whatever I wanted however I wanted, so I had a lot of fun.

Of course, I wasn’t that confident that my questions were as precise as when I had been given keywords.

“If I tell you, I’ll die!”

“I’ll cut off your hand then.”

“Damn it!”

The pickpocket NPC was wriggling about as if he was trying to resist, but my foot, which was pressing down on his chest, was a lot stronger than him.

And, drunk on the pleasure of being able to freely interrogate this NPC and fully immersed in my character, my guilt was almost completely drowned out, enabling me to turn my blade towards his wrist without blinking an eye.

Unlike a tongue, cutting off a hand wasn’t as disgusting – it was a common occurrence during monster hunts – so I had even less qualms about it.

“Aah, shit, shitshit……”

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to cut it off with a single stroke. However, if I ended up scratching the sword over the floor, its durability would decrease.

It would be better if I stabbed it first. I raised the arm holding the sword above my head. I intended to stab into the middle of his wrist and then cut it off. 

“I’ll, I’ll tell you!”

And just when I was about to strike down with my sword, the NPC, whose eyes were tightly shut, eventually gave up and raised his voice.

Stab!

I stabbed into the ground right next to his wrist.

“Guide me.”

“Shit, I just wanted to earn some money in the morning……”

It seemed like he had chosen me as his first target of the day.

Katchak.

In any case, I would fulfill my promise. I put my Longsword back into its sheath and raised my foot. Of course, I didn’t completely relax my body so that I could punish him if he dared to run away.

“He’s a thief.”

The Inquisitor, who had been watching the whole thing, spoke up as she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Don’t care.”

Of course, it didn’t really matter much to me. It was sickening that he tried to steal my things, but I (my character) found it much more important to get some clues on the Demon that may or may not exist.

“And you, if you don’t want to test how fast my sword can stab through you, you better not even dare to think about doing something stupid.”

However, that didn’t mean that I felt less repulsed by him. As such I warned the pickpocket.

“I……I got it.”

I just slightly poked at him, but did he actually think about bouncing? I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him, who just managed to get back on his feet again, to which the pickpocket flinched. 

Seeing how it was, I felt like he would completely ignore my warning and try to run away as soon as we went into some alley. Well, there was nothing I could do about that. Ah, right, Tracking Magic.

But I didn’t want to ask the Archmage first. I still had to act a little more like an outsider to them. Like they were strangers that just happened to walk in the same direction as me on the street.

“Sir Archmage. How about casting that spell again?”

“…You mean Tracking Magic?”

“Yes. He might run away after all.”

After catching that Demon Contractor, I was thinking about activating some tracking skills with the skill point I had yet to use.

Just when I was thinking about that, the Inquisitor already asked in my stead. Of course, she couldn’t read my mind. It seemed like she just didn’t like that pickpocket.

Either that or it was just an arrangement to advance the plot.

“What?”

“…I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do.”

After the words Tracking Magic fell, the pickpocket NPC jumped up, and the Archmage just let out a gentle breath.

“I shall cast Tracking Magic on you. Even if you try to run away, we will be able to catch you again.”

However, he didn’t refuse to do it.

He shook his cane once, after which the pickpocket was branded. He panicked and tried to wipe it away, but something done by magic couldn’t be removed by physical means.

“Lead the way.”

“Right……Away.”

* * *

“Why did you crawl back here aga–?”

After putting the magic shackles so to speak on him, the pickpocket guided us to King Hound with a resigned expression on his face. 

“Wh-who are you?!”

The bulky NPC, who looked completely unlike a thief, freaked out and jumped to his feet. He totally looked like the manager type. Both his physique and the food around him made him seem that way.

“What the hell did you—.”

“What will happen will depend on what answers you can give me.”

“Krrg.”

Well, it was none of my business how much money he pocketed, so I didn’t pay it any mind. However, I still kicked his bulging stomach as he grabbed the knife he had placed on the table.

“That doesn’t seem like a good way to greet someone.”

“If you’re dissatisfied with my way of doing things, just go back and do it your way then.”

The Archmage seemed to start to doubt the personality of his companion. However, I had always been acting like that. Haha. This character was so fun.

“Put yourself short.”

After kicking the knife out of the man’s hand I took out my own from inside my coat.

Thanks to my experience with flipping butterfly knives and the game’s correction combined, I was able to smoothly spin even a normal knife around my fingers. 

“Wha-what do you want to know?”

How come the boss had less guts than his own subordinate?

Still, it was easier to interrogate that guy if he was already that scared. I then asked him about the things I wanted to know in a calm tone of voice.

The result was rather terrible, but there was something to gain from it.

“Wh-what is your purpose for asking me that? Wouldn’t that Inquisition know more about that? They took them to the Temple for the sake of edification.”

“…What did you just say?”

The content of his words had some terrible implications, but at least we now knew where to go next.

“Swear to God! Are you sure that they were taken to the Temple?”

The Inquisitor, who had suddenly intervened, seemed positively furious. I felt a little uncomfortable as her tone and actions overlapped with my character’s, but it was fine as she only acted that way towards criminals.

“Y-yeah…… I swear. Nothing I said just now was a lie.”

“For how long?”

“I-I believe it started about a month ago…… But my guess is…… That it had been going on for much longer than this.”

“…Preposterous!”

The Inquisitor spat out some profanities.

“The edification of criminals is only possible during the period permitted by the Great Temple! How could they arbitrarily edify others when it hasn’t been permitted yet?!”

…So she got angry for such an annoying reason. I thought there was something else that was highly suspicious or something.

“…Is it that important?”

“Then what is more important than this?!”

Leaving the white lion – the Mage – and the Inquisitor alone, I looked down at King Hound.

“So, they dragged people with them for a month now?!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Did they take a lot of people at once?”

“No…… According to the kids, they would only quietly drag along one or two.”

King Hound glanced at me as he said that.

“Right, secretly and quietly, like human traffickers would. Oh, I’m not saying that this is what they were actually doing. How could the Temple do such things? It’s just a metaphor……”

Wow. Even if I didn’t know the original plot, I would have known what was going on in an instant. I felt myself sobering up seeing that this development was more than obvious. Oh well, it didn’t matter, the game system was already fun enough. 

“What did you—.”

“Does it happen regularly?”

Before the Inquisitor could shout angrily, a stern voice sounded out first. It was the Archmage, wearing an incredibly serious expression.

“Yes, yes. They do it two or three times a week, Inquisitors patrol the area at a set time. So I just told the people that they shouldn’t go out during those times.”

A 2m bipedal white lion was already frightening enough even if he didn’t wear that kind of face. The NPC trembled and gave a positive answer to the question. The Archmage’s expression immediately changed to a furious one. 

“Don’t tell me…… Sacrifices for Demons……?”

It seemed like he was able to picture the worst case scenario with just that testimony alone. Well, I had similar thoughts.

“What do you mean? What sacrifices?!”

“…It’s just a hypothesis. However……”

“The Temple would never do that!”

Tak

Anyway, I put the dagger I was holding back into its sheath in my coat.

“There isn’t a more useless word than ‘never’.”

“……!”

By the way, that wasn’t necessarily something I just said in my roleplay, but something I had experienced multiple times in my life. There was nothing more unreliable than saying something would never happen.

Still, I had to keep up my character, so I just mumbled some words, while touching my right arm. The gasp I heard from behind me was very satisfying to hear indeed. 

“Does anyone know where they took them?”

“Well, I don’t……”

When I asked this question with a tone so cold that one might think my voice was possessed by glacial winds, I immediately got an answer back. I really wondered what he actually knew, this guy. Well, all quests were kind of like this anyway.

“I-I know!”

Then I heard someone shouting from behind me. It was the pickpocket who guided us all the way here.

I thought he ran away right away after bringing us here, but weirdly enough, he had waited. Was this also because of the plot?

“It’s not like I know exactly where they took them, but I know some people who do……They saw the Demon come out. That’s the most important thing right?”

He stuttered for a moment when my gaze fell on him, but he spoke firmly. My first impression of him was the worst, but I really liked this guy.

Creak, creak.

I turned my back to King Hound and walked towards him. Every time I stepped on the old wooden floor boards they gave off a weird sound, but that really helped create this subtle atmosphere. 

The one who had just courageously shouted now took a step back as he swallowed his saliva.

“Wha-what?”

Did I make the mood too serious? But well, that was what it meant to ‘Role.Play.’

“Guide me.”

“…Follow me.”

I followed after him. I was welcomed by those twisted alleyways once more.

“Let’s go, Inquisitor.”

“…Yes.”

Of course, the Archmage and the Inquisitor also followed after me.

* * *

“The place I’m taking you to now is the roughest back alley in the slums.”

After we passed a few back alleys, the pickpocket turned to speak to me. I almost flinched, because it was such an unexpected action. 

“What I mean to say is…… You shouldn’t take out that knife when we go in there. The people that live there are quite sensitive. Especially that Inquisitor over there! They really hate people from the Temple.”

I was thankful for the advice, but that last part probably didn’t reach the right person because it was me who he was talking to, seriously. However, it seemed like the Archmage had heard him, so it should be fine.

“They are thieves too tho—.”

“Inquisitor.”

He looked at me.

“Please don’t put me in danger by doing something unnecessary! Alright? I-I’m just trying to help because I feel like it’s something important!”

Rather, that pickpocket, now that I looked at him a bit more, he seemed to be a little tsundere. It kind of reminded me of my cute, little cousin, who was a little bratty as well.

“Even if things go south, I’ll make sure that you’ll live, so stop complaining and guide me.”

“Hmm, you look pretty confident in your strength, but you would have to be a knight at least to survive that place, you know?”

I see. Coincidentally, he was in the presence of a former knight.

I furrowed my brows as I looked at the pickpocket, as he kept harping on about how I should keep it in. To be honest, I really wanted to keep chatting, but the character I was playing as didn’t like noisy people according to his setting. As such I had to express my feelings like that.

Rustle.

“From this point on you have to be careful. No matter what you do, don’t take out that knife……”

However, as soon as I reached the path he led us to, I reflexively put my hand on the handle of my dagger.

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20 m.」

“Shit, what are you doing?! Don’t pull out that knife!”

“If you don’t want me to pull it out, you should tell those guys to put down their blades first.”

I was so glad I leveled up Detection. Not only did the radius increase, it even marked the targets and informed me of their location. This was only visible to me. 

“What?”

“Come out.”

I cast my eyes on each of them, counting the marks only I could see, and carefully listened to their sounds of breathing.

“…Are there any people?”

It seemed like neither the Archmage nor the Inquisitor could hear those breathing sounds.

That semi-tank Inquisitor aside, weren’t Archmages said to be good at feeling things? Even if it wasn’t for his class, he was also of the Shaggi race. Weren’t their ears supposed to be better than the other races?

“Do you want me to come to you?”

Why weren’t they coming out even though I already told them that I knew where they were?

“…Sigh.”

As soon as I put one of my hands into my coat, wondering if I should throw a dagger at them, someone stood up on the roof of one of those shacks.

It was the hostile being closest to me. His cat-like ears popped out of his dark green robe’s hood.

Given that he had animal ears, but the rest of his body was that of a human, he probably was a ‘Curety’, right? If he were of the Shaggi race, the rest of his body would also look animalistic.

“I’ve felt like I’ve heard of a guy like you.”

However, somehow he seemed kind of familiar to me, or was I just seeing things?

“Two-colored hair. A gauntlet on your right arm. An eyepatch over your right eye.”

Probably not.

Him being a Curety aside, dark green colored hair and messy stubble on the chin weren’t exactly common features among thieves.

Adding in that loud of his.

“You’re the Demon Knight, right?”

That guy looked exactly like the representative character of Thief class.

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