Chapter 115: The Rabbit(?) Young Man

Watching the young man’s contorting face, Muno realized his mistake.

‘To be so rude upon our first meeting…’

No matter how unpleasant an impression he had received, to pick a fight over just that.

‘I’m not some thug…’

His self-reflection was swift.

However.

“Ah, sorr…”

Just as he was about to lower his head slightly, something whitish approached his eyes.

‘Hmm?’

He instinctively raised his hand to catch it.

But the whitish object passed straight through his gauntlet-clad fingers and came towards his eye.

‘Hup!’

Vwoom.

The moment he sensed something was amiss, his mana moved reflexively.

As a gray haze rose from his gauntlet and his hand moved much faster than before.

Boom!

A loud bang exploded in front of his eyes, and a weak shockwave spread out in all directions, causing a sudden gust of wind.

“Kya!?”

“Wh-what was that!?”

“Those people…”

“Shh. Don’t make eye contact.”

The people around them quickly moved away, but he had no time to worry about that.

‘What was that? That thing?’

Muno, who had been pushed back 2-3 meters in that brief moment, tilted his head, recalling the scene from just before.

And in front of him.

“Not bad. Better than I thought.”

The young man with pure white hair and red eyes, who had been pushed back similarly, was smiling coldly.

“That thing just now, was that your hand?”

Muno asked, recalling the shape of the whitish thing that had come right up to his eyeball.

The young man nodded with that cold smile.

“Ah, I was going to dye your eyes a little red. It seemed like you were envious.”

Hah, look at this?

“So, you tried to poke my eye out over one slip of the tongue?”

“A slip of the tongue to call someone a rabbit on a first meeting? That’s picking a fight.”

As a spark seemed to fly between the black and red eyes staring at each other.

“Excuse me, Sir Muno?”

“Ah…”

Heh.

At Rauel’s interruption, Muno clicked his tongue lightly.

‘No matter how I look at it, he’s not a Magic Knight.’

He had things to do right now, and causing an unnecessary commotion in the middle of the street was not one of them.

Muno once again looked at the face that seemed to be of a similar age to his own and shook his head.

“…Alright. I made the first mistake, so let’s move on. We’ll probably see each other again.”

A 4-Star-level knight at that age, they would surely meet again somewhere.

That was the meaning behind his words.

The white-haired young man received it with a snort.

“It wasn’t a mistake, it was a clear provocation.”

This guy now…

Hmph.

Even as the scowling Muno glared at him, the white-haired young man just smiled coldly as if to say, ‘wanna go?’.

But that needlessly handsome face and the white hair with red eyes greatly diminished that coldness.

Looking at him like this, he really did look like a rabbit…

“…Cute.”

“What…?!”

Watching the young man’s poker face shatter at the words he had unintentionally spat out, Muno turned away with a chuckle.

The red gaze on the back of his head felt somewhat amusing.

“Sir Muno, you drew unnecessary attention.”

“Ah, sorry. How was I supposed to know he’d react like that?”

Muno replied with a smile to Rauel’s words, while replaying the earlier clash in his head.

‘What was that? How did his hand move like smoke…’

It was a brief encounter, but the white hand that had come right up to his eyeball had left a strong impression.

He hadn’t felt any demonic energy, but the technique was like magic.

Of course, he had detected a slight amount of mana…

‘I didn’t see any particular movement of spirits.’

In other words, that technique was not Spirit Arts, but purely the white-haired man’s own skill.

‘An illusion caused by speed… no, that’s not it either.’

He was fast, but strictly speaking, Karina was much faster.

It also didn’t seem to be an advanced martial arts technique like Karina’s secret art.

‘Then what on earth was it…’

He glanced back again, but the white-haired man had already disappeared into the crowd.

And.

“…Sir Muno? Sir Muno?”

When he came to his senses, gray eyes from beyond a mesh were staring at him.

“Ah, sorry. I was thinking about what just happened. What did you say?”

“That man, he wasn’t one of them, so you let him go, right? That’s what I asked.”

Heh.

“He wasn’t one of them, that’s true, but I didn’t let him go either.”

“Yes?”

“That guy was 4-Star-level. At an age that looks similar to mine right now. If I had tried to catch him rashly, it would have caused a huge commotion.”

He now knew for sure that he possessed power beyond the norm.

Even if his opponent wasn’t a magician, he was confident he could chew up a Corporeal Arts user with a one-stage difference…

“That guy looked very tricky. I wonder if our compatibility is bad…”

“Yes!?”

Rauel was startled by the words that had slipped out.

The remark must have been particularly shocking to Rauel, who, due to literally the worst compatibility, couldn’t even display half of her own martial prowess in front of Muno.

“Even a monster like you, Sir Muno, has compatibilities?”

Heh.

“Hey, calling me a monster right in front of my face.”

“Still…”

“It’s just a guess. That guy, he gave off a really annoying feeling.”

He looked back at the place he had left again, but of course, there was nothing to see now.

“Then the fact that he’s 4-Star is just a guess too?”

“It’s a guess, but it’s probably right.”

“Yes? How can you…?”

“Why wouldn’t I know? Don’t you just get a feeling when you see them up close?”

“…That’s what I’m asking, how do you know.”

“What do you mean how? Well, just?”

“Hah…”

Despite being a former assassin, Rauel’s expressions were truly diverse.

Watching her pretty eyes, nose, and mouth under the mesh mask scrunch up a little as she pouted, Muno let out another chuckle.

Should I explain it to her?

“Should I say the weight of the air pushed aside when he moves is different? I can roughly feel the mass compressed within that body.”

At those words, Rauel’s gaze became even stranger.

“The weight of the air, the compressed mass?”

“Yeah.”

“Hah… I understand that you can usually only tell the opponent’s level if there’s a difference of one or two stages or more. And even that’s in the realm of ‘instinct’, so even the truly super-strong can’t explain it well. But you, Sir Muno…”

So that’s how it is.

At her words, Muno let out a small sigh.

“…I guess I’m a little special.”

Rauel’s talent, having gone through four evolutions in her early 20s, was more than enough to be called genius.

And yet, with this reaction, it seemed that guessing an opponent’s level was really not something anyone could do.

But that white-haired man had definitely ‘recognized’ it, just like him.

That’s why it bothered him even more.

“…I need to find out about that guy. With that appearance and that skill, he should be famous. Did he only operate in the provinces?”

Still, if there was a guy like that, rumors should have been heard.

Sensing that the white-haired man’s importance was growing in Muno’s mind, Rauel immediately nodded.

“…I will put in a request with El.”

“Yeah. Ah, but do you have enough money left?”

“El said they won’t charge for Sir Muno’s requests? They said they’ll only charge for the actual expenses incurred from now on.”

“…What? Why?”

This was another surprise.

“I don’t know the reason either. I was just told that the owner of that identification plaque is allowed to do so.”

“Hmm.”

While he thought that perhaps the Reid Merchant Guild valued Drasen more than he had thought.

‘That alone doesn’t seem to explain it.’

A slight feeling of unease remained.

Of course, what’s good is good.

For now, it was better to use them as much as he could.

‘The day will come when I can ask.’

What was important right now was not that.

“Now. Anyway, let’s go find those guys.”

“Yes.”

“First, from the place where you caught one yesterday…”

“Follow me.”

The somewhat motivated steps headed towards the southern outskirts of the commercial city of Erundel.

* * *

“The border between the slums and the commercial district. It’s a district where poor merchant guilds and cheap mercenaries live alongside the poor who have no land to farm outside.”

A place where the number of people walking around was small, and even the clothes of those few people looked noticeably shabby.

He still couldn’t feel any demonic energy in the vicinity.

Instead.

“Kuh, the smell…”

For some reason, a particularly foul smell could be felt here.

It was incomparable to when he had first entered Erundel, and his sense of smell, which he thought had adapted to the stench, began to scream again.

“Sir Muno, are you crying?”

“No! It’s because of the smell… Ugh.”

“Is it that bad? You’re strange.”

Damn it, is this my weakness?

It’s something I’m realizing anew, but having an overly sensitive sense of smell in this world, at least, seems to bring more bad things than good.

“Wait, just a moment. Just wait.”

Hooo.

‘Ironheart was better after all. The Spirit Arts of Wind is the answer. Damn it, metal of all things…’

As he grumbled and forced himself to take deep breaths to adapt his sense of smell.

Suddenly, amidst the wafting stench, a strange smell that felt both unfamiliar and familiar was caught.

“…Hmm?”

“Sir Muno?”

“Just a moment…”

What is this… no.

‘Whose smell was this?’

Since the world was filled with all sorts of foul smells to begin with, he hadn’t made a point of trying to remember things by their scent.

So, the smells his thrice-evolved sense of smell naturally remembered were those of his family who gave him warmth, or the cold and nostalgic smell of the land of Drasen.

If he had to add more, it would only be Karina or Rauel, who had a pleasant fragrance unlike the people of this era…

‘Ah, there’s one more.’

A smell that hadn’t been forgotten because he had encountered it not long ago, rather than because he had deliberately committed it to memory.

A guy who was that impressive.

“That guy…!”

“Yes?”

“Follow me for now.”

Why would that guy be around here?

Was it a coincidence?

‘No way…’

Muno’s stealthy steps, with a slightly hardened expression, were heading towards an alley in the slums where more and more dilapidated buildings were beginning to appear.

A corner of an alley shrouded in shadow despite it being broad daylight.

“Kuh, keuk, I, I really d-don’t know. I…”

A bald, tattooed giant was retreating backward on his buttocks, dragging one arm and leg that had been bent at an angle they shouldn’t have been.

Tears looked ready to pour from his menacing face at any moment.

But the owner of the pure white hair and red eyes looking at such a bald man just showed a chuckle.

“Oh dear, why don’t you know? That can’t be right.”

The young man who approached with a murderous smile.

The bald man’s complexion turned even paler.

“I, really! I really don’t know! I just did as they told me…!”

And then.

Crack.

“Aaaack!”

The bald man, whose previously intact left arm was now also twisted at a grotesque angle, let out a single scream.

“Keuuuk, aack. Why, why me…!”

Despite the bald man’s desperate expression, the red eyes squatting in front of him just looked down at him coldly.

“Why? Hah, did you sell your conscience along with the children to those guys?”

Crunch.

“Aaaaaack!”

With his sneer, the bald man, whose remaining left leg was also broken, convulsed and screamed again.

But the white-haired man’s expression did not waver.

“There are still many places to break, I wonder how long you’ll last…”

The moment the desolate red eyes, unbefitting his youthful face, were clearly imprinted on the bald man’s pupils again.

“S-save, save me. I-if I talk, I’ll die. Please. Uhehehehehe.”

The bald man let out a cry that did not suit his menacing impression.

However, the red eyes did not waver in the slightest, and instead, showed a murderous smile.

“If you don’t talk, you’ll die now.”

“Uheheheuk. S-save me. Please…”

“If you want to live, you have to talk, right? Where are they, those guys?”

As the bald man’s mouth began to slowly open at the cold voice.

In an alley far away from there, two figures, wrapped in old robes and hidden in the shadows, were secretly watching the scene.

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