Chapter 513: Shadow of a Guy With a Bounty

The speed of the evolved Urushi was so incredible. The journey which should take us a day to complete was done in about an hour.

He jumped over mountains and rivers, and the magic beasts there were nothing but food to him. He didn’t even stop; he just ate them up as he continued to run.

「Momu momu」

「Tasty?」

「Woof!」

I don’t mind though, since he had secured their magic stones so we won’t need to strip off their materials.

『Ooh, now we can see the next town. That must be Didianne, the last town before we leave the Kranzel Kingdom』

「What’s their specialty?」

『I heard they are famous for their cheese from domesticated magic beasts』

「Heee」

「Woof!」

With Urushi’s speed, we should have entered the Belios Kingdom long ago, but we’re still in the Kranzel Kingdom.

This is because we stopped in all the towns and villages along the way to eat their local specialties. It’s been a week since I learned how to cook some of it and even stayed overnight because I liked to cook.

We’re not in a hurry, so Fran could do as she pleased. It would be rather boring if we just simply hurried to the destination. It would be a waste to not enjoy the journey as well. I wanted Fran to experience more than just fighting after all.

The first thing we saw when we entered the town through the gate were armed soldiers. They weren’t trying to intimidate us, but there seemed to be a lot of them for a town of this size.

Maybe because it’s a city near the border huh? But no matter how I look at it, they seem like security soldiers, don’t they? Or should I say, police-types? They give a different impression from border patrol soldiers after all.

However, the reason for this somber atmosphere soon became apparent. It was at the first stall we stopped at.

「Hey young miss! This is Didianne’s specialty, bread with lots of cheese! Do you want some?」

「Nn. Give me five」

「Ooh, aren’t you quite the bold one! Coming! That looks, are you an adventurer?」

「Nn」

「That’s amazing, you’ve must have to do your best even though you’re still small huh, is this also your first time in this town?」

「Just arrived」

「I see! So, what do you think of this town?」

「There’s a lot of soldiers」

「Aah, about that huh?」

The old man at the stall told us that a few months ago, a famous person with a bounty on his head was spotted in this area. He said that soldiers and even the local army had been sent out to capture him, but they had been one-sidedly beaten.

「About a hundred soldiers were beaten in a blink of an eye, you know? It’s been like this for the past few months, with such a dangerous person possibly lurking around」

「I see」

It’s quite a violent criminal for being able to defeat a hundred soldiers by himself. Well, I guess the Lord won’t just leave him alone after that.

However, I felt a little strange about that.

「…Are the soldier not being serious on their duty?」

Yes, there were a lot of them, but the soldiers didn’t seem to be in the mood to capture him. It wasn’t that they were not serious, but I felt that they lacked the enthusiasm to capture him.

「Well, no one died, so I’m guessing they’re not actually that serious about this」

「Defeated an entire army, but no one died?」

「Woof?」

「Well yeah. Some of them were badly injured, but none of them died. Because of that, the soldiers don’t seem to be putting in much effort. I think the Lord just wants to have a record of having a lot of soldiers huh?」

So, he’s appealing that he had done his best to protect his people, but he’s not willing to capture that guy. And if they put up a serious fight, they’ll probably just get beaten back.

「Well, there was a rumor that he was quite a bad person, so there was some panic in this town at first. There was an increase in the number of adventurers looking for the guy with a bounty on his head, and it became unsafe here. However, I haven’t heard of anyone seeing him lately, and security has improved thanks to the increase in soldiers. In fact, I’d rather want him to stay here and not be found」

「Hey, what kind of person is this guy with a bounty?」

「Are you going to catch him? No, please don’t」

Did he see the expression on Fran’s face and detected that she had a strong interest in the guy with a bounty? For him to be able to read Fran’s expressions, that’s quite a feat huh. No, it must mean that Fran was so motivated that even someone who never met her before could tell.

「But are you sure? His name is Zelos Reed. He’s said to be a skilled mercenary who’s killed hundreds of people in his time. He’s not a someone a novice adventurer like you can catch」

「Zelos, Reed? Zelos Reed is here?」

「Y-yeah」

No, wait. That’s absolutely ridiculous. He had fought a hundred soldiers and not a single one of them had died, right? If he’s saying that he had slaughtered hundreds of people back then, how is it possible that he didn’t kill a single person now?

It’s that Zelos Reed after all.

『Is it the real one?』

He may be a criminal, but he is still famous. It would not be surprising if it was a fake. But the thing is, this guy has a high fighting power.

「What does he looks like?」

「He’s a big guy with scars all over his body… Wha, oioi, do you really want to chase after him?」

「Well, I wonder?」

「…T-that’s fine then」

When he heard Fran’s answer, the old man thought he had been played for a fool.

But the response now was Fran’s true intention.

She has a lot of hatred for Zelos Reed. But Kiara has told me not to seek revenge. As for Fran, she probably doesn’t want to actively pursue him, unless he’s nearby that is.

However, this guy doesn’t seem to be the real one and I don’t think that he’s still around. But we can’t ignore this guy.

『Well, why don’t we find this guy with Urushi’s nose?』

If he was hiding nearby, we should be able to track him down. If he had left the vicinity immediately after the incident a few months ago, there would indeed be no scent left behind. Well, that is, if this Zelos Reed was the real one.

「Nn! Urushi!」

「Woof woof!」

「Young miss and her little doggy, don’t be reckless!」