"hah...hah..."

I can hear panting sound coming out from behind me.

"Hart-san...wait..."

I looked back and saw the figure of a teenage boy panting furiously trying to catch up with me.

"I'm not even walking that fast, what's wrong with you?"

"But we ,ha...ha..., been walking since before dawn without break, we're not even stop to eat breakfast and it's already noon. You're the one that's weird to be able keep going without catching your breath."

Well, I guess that's true.

"Just eat as you walk."

It's been 4 days since I first met this guy and we didn't manage to get out of this forest at all. I also found out several strange things about the current me after my 'resurection'.

First of all I didn't have the same amount of stamina compared to before. Before this I can walk for a bit more than a day without rest. But now, 16 hours are probably my limit. Another thing that strange is that I can traversing forest very easily even though I'm not someone who often visit the forest. Not only that I can also easily detect and found animal trails and differentiate between plants while before I can only saw them no different from grass.

I guess it's because of the previous owner of this body is a hunter or some kind.

I reach out to my magic bag and pull out a round object about the size of a baby fist. This thing is a bomb that appeared in my magic bag for some unknown reason. I was baffled by the many things in my magic bag that I don't know of. Such as bow, arrows, a small knife, ointments, and several unknown balls.

By those items I can concluded that the girl I possesed is probably a hunter, but I became unsure because of the small balls.

At first I didn't know what those balls are. But when I casually throw one of them away it suddenly exploded. And from that I concluded that it was some kind of explosives. Not to mention the total number of explosives in my bag are about 30 more or less. This fact made me puzzled as to why a hunter carrying so much explosives. But because it's useful to me I didn't think too much of it.

Hmm... Considering my combat capabilities, I guess currently these explosives are my strongest weapon.

While I was having such thoughts to myself, I realize that I already got out of the forest and standing at the side of a road.

But even though I already managed to got out of the forest, I didn't feel relieved at all. It's because from a distance I noticed a caravan sorrounded by many people that I assumed to be guards.

I squinted my eyes instinctively.

Because I live in the slums for long, I acutely noticed that those people are not decent people at all.

I called out to the guy that sitting exhausted behind me.

"Hey"

"Yes?"

"There's a caravan up ahead. See if they will be willing to take us to a nearby town or cities."

Probably because he heard about there's other people he suddenly stood up vigourously.

"A caravan? Where?"

"There."

I pointed towards a caravan that stopped moving seemingly because of some issue.

"Alright I'm going!"

"Wait, just in case don't mention that you're with me. Just say that you're alone and lost in the forest."

"Huh? Why?"

He responded with complete puzzlement.

I answered with a long sigh.

"Look at me. If they know you're with someone like me will only make them unnecessarily suspicious don't you think?"

He looked at me up and down before nodding convinced

"I guess you're right. You looks like someone that up to no good."

*twitch

"Right? so you best not tell them I'm with you. If they willing to bring you to the nearest settlement, I'm going to tail you discreetly from behind."

After that Hayato quickly run towards them while I keep observing him from a distance.

When he approached them he quickly talking and gesturing something at them. He also conjured food from his hand, probably intending to show that he can help them in their journey.

After that he clearly become somewhat agitated and the armed men suddenly pulled out their weapons. And then he was quickly ran towards my location with astonishing speed with a look of desperation on his face

Yep, as I thought they're dangerous.

"Get down!"

I immediately throw a bomb at the people chasing him and succesfully killed two of them and injuring many others because of it's strong explosion.

I started running in the opposite direction.

"W-wait for me!"

"Stop talking and just follow me!"

We ran through the forest avoiding arrows and stones the pursuer throw at us.

After an uknown time I suddenly heard the sounds of water.

"This way!"

Not long after I saw a river with a rather strong current.

Without any hesitation I immediately stored all my weapons except for a pair of daggers and jump towards the river. Hayato has a look of astonishment on his face but he followed me by jumping into the river.

Maybe because the currents are stronger than expected I can see him flailing behind me.

"Relax yourself and let the current carry your bodies!"

I don't know if he can hear me but he immediately started to relax and his body floated at the surface of the water.

In this way we let the current carry our bodies.

Fortunately there are no waterfalls on our way only a few large rocks occasionally. But because the current are not strong enough for us to lose control our bodies we can avoid them relatively easy.

After several hours floating on the river we make our way towards the riverbanks when the rivers got out of the forested area and into the plains. We lay down at the riverbanks extremely exhausted.

But I can't help but raise the corner of my lips seeing the highwall in the distance in the direction the river is flowing.

As expected, you can found human settlement more easily if you follow bodies of water.

When having such thoughts in my head I can't help but lament.

"Sigh... We should have followed the river from the beginning..."

 

---

*ratle *ratle

"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~"

An old man wearing straw hat humming along the rattling sound of his carriage under the glaring sunlight.

"Thank you for allowing us ride on your carriage."

He turned his head toward the back of his carriage where two youth sitting next to each other and a girl sitting some distance from them. None of them take off their hood even in this hot day make them look suspicious, but he knew the world is full of much more strange and eccentric people than those three so he didn't mind it too much. In the first place, they ask him to board his carriage politely so he know they not dangerous people.

"Hohoho don't mention it. I'm going to the town myself so it's no problem."

The hooded man who speak earlier, Alfred, nodded his head with a smile.

"Al, I know it's strange for me to ask you after all this time but what is our objective in this town? Do you have information about him being in this town?"

Keith said in a whispered voice.

Alfred looked at him for a moment before closing his eyes.

"No, I don't"

"Then why?"

"You heard about what happened in Goldrift from that peddler too don't you?"

Around three days ago, the met with a peddler with a haggard appearance. Worried that he was attacked by monster or bandit on the way, Alfred asked him about what happened, but what he heard from the peddler was more shocking than what he originally thought.

The peddler told him about the horrendous incident which take place in Goldrift City. The look of horror that plastered on the peddler's face when he recounted that experience still linger in his memories. 

At first he thought his brother is involved with this incident. But he immediately erased that thought after he heard that the Knight Commander of that city, Esterosa Ashkiln, and her sister died in that incident.

Rio demon summoning skill is certainly strong, but not so strong that he could possibly summon a demon that can kill those two sibling in which the Royal Guard Captain has admitted defeat to.

Both of them are very famous for their skills that the royal family has approached them once in the past. But the older sister's feeling for the city they grew up in are very strong while the younger sister is very free spirited and always follow her sister which made their approach ended up in failure.

Although many nobles are very dissatisfied and condemn them greatly, many of them couldn't help but envy the noble in charge of Goldrift City.

Keith fell silent for quite a long time before he looked up at Alfred.

"I see... Do you mean that this city is our best bet?"

"I know you'll understand."

A few hours after Alfred talk with the mysterious man, he found Rio and his sister. A few days after he dissapeared from the Royal Capital, a large city destroyed to smitherens. Although there is no evidence, Alfred feel that he somehow connected to the incident in Goldrift City.

He immediately change his destination to the closest town from Goldrift. And the closest town to from Goldrift is Gurfal town, also known as The Den of Desire.

It's because this town is a town famous for it's entertainment business. From normal entertainment such as circus, musical opera and theater to prostitution, casino, and gladitorial match, all kind of entertainment facility are available in this town. 

Although constitutionally the town is under the jurisdiction of Feldian kingdom, the town itself operate independently from the kingdom laws, almost like an independent state. The only reason both the kingdom and the town keep maintaining the status quo is because both parties are benefited from this relationship. The town can use the kingdom as shield when trouble arrives while the Kingdom receive a large tax money from it. Gurfal town alone give about 15% of the country total tax money.

Because of it's nature, this place has also become a place filled with various crimes but the country left it alone as long as the crime are not something that will alert the major powers.

Alfred glanced at the girl in front of him.

"Sheila, the place we are going to are very dangerous so please stay near us as much as possible."

The brown haired cat girl looked up at him and nodded her head.

Alfred has some trouble communicating with her before because she never responded to anything. But after a few days she started opened her heart to him and Alfred managed to learn her name. Although that's the only thing he knew about her Alfred still feel quite happy.

"We've arrived!"

Hearing the old man voice three of them looked at the town walls and quickly completed the procedures to enter.

They were amazed when they saw the town itself.

"This is... more ordinary than I thought?"

"Yeah, it looked completely different from the rumours."

Contrary to it's reputation the town looked very ordinary compared to the rumours. They can even saw some children playing and laughing happily and some women talking amongst themselves while holding groceries.

The old man laughing loudly as if amused by their reaction.

"Hahahahahaha! If you want to see this town similar to how the rumours potrayed it to be, you should come to the east district."

They parted ways with the old man and started walking to search for an inn. But not long after they parted ways with the old man Alfred spotted a guy dressed in foreign clothing amongst the crowd.

Unconciously his sight keep following this person. He keep walking until he stop in front of a small alley and seems to be talking with someone. When the other party showed his face from the alley Alfred froze on the spot.

Although he can only see his side profile Alfred almost certain that he was the man he met in the slum that told him about his sister location in Karstfilm Forest.

"Al?"

Keith looked at him in confusion when he saw Alfred stopped in his track. But Alfred didn't even bother to answer him and just started running towards the alley direction.

"Wait! Al!"

Keith was just about to run after him but he noticed Sheila glancing around anxiously. He grab her hand and started running towards the direction Alfred went off to.