Volume 4 Chapter 59: Shikigami

Unexpectedly, we did not encounter any enemies on our rushed journey to Wors City.

We did not encounter a single animal either.

Well, it's completely understandable. After all, such a frightening battle happened in the forest, it would be a miracle if any magical beasts dared to stay near that area.

Also, we chose to proceed to a different destination, so the people obstructing us wouldn't be able to find us in such a short notice. Hence, we were able to successfully enter this city.

Speaking of which, earlier, I asked Bai Yueguang and the two girls how they managed to find us. Their answer completely fell within the scope of my predictions.

"Obviously, we saw your battle. Do you think such an extremely exaggerated battle could be hidden from sight? It was basically like the end of the world, you know? When people saw that huge tornado, everyone was so frightened they started running. Ah, us? With such a big event happening close to us, obviously, we had to rush over. After all, no matter how I see it, it's a good opportunity to earn EXP."

That's what he said. He completely did not alter the details of his story, and he definitely does not seem to be the type to plot anything against us.

Of course, if I was in his place, I would have done the same as well.

But since it was such a huge event, why wasn't there anyone else who came to observe? In times like that, wouldn't legendary figures or people that had isolated themselves from the world appear?

None of them appeared though.

Then what about those soldiers that are meant to protect the citizens? None of them appeared either.

I'm unsure of whether the Ice Empire have used their taxes on the army, but, no matter how I see it, not using the taxes on military purposes is impossible. But, if that's really the case, after receiving the taxes, there's actually no soldiers patrolling the area to protect the safety of the citizens...

If the citizens knew, they will be sad, you know. That old man governing the Ice Empire, just what is he thinking?

Well, it's not like I can't understand.

After all, one of the parties of that battle must be standing on the side of the Ice Empire. If the Ice Empire knew of this act beforehand, naturally, no soldiers would appear.

But...

Why wouldn't he simply dispatch the army to obstruct the enemies then? I can't understand at all. Well, politics is something like that.

As I thought, I still do not possess enough information. I should hurry and find the

black market in this city, and use the terminal to contact the related parties.

But currently, it's only four in the morning. Other than the stars in the sky, there's basically no other sources of light. Of course, the light from the flames on the city walls isn't enough.

"Everyone, the city gate will open at 6 in the morning, but if you guys have any other things to do, you can still leave the escort detail temporarily. We will gather here once again at this spot tomorrow, at 8 in the morning."

I don't know why, but the man called Abudo suddenly said all that.

"Of course, since everyone was able to make it here alive, after this, you can immediately head over to the mercenary guild to retrieve your reward of 50 gold. It will be counted as a reward for completing a part of the escort mission. Those who wish to continue, please gather here tomorrow. Then, I hope to see you guys here again. Goodbye."

After saying that, that man actually brought his two remaining subordinates and walked into the second carriage.

Hey hey, what are you guys...

...

Just when I was figuring out what they were planning to do, suddenly, the names in carriage disappeared!

That's right, in an instant, the tree names suddenly disappeared, as if they weren't inside the carriage in the first place.

"Oyado!"

"Big brother, what's wrong?" "That carriage."

I pointed to the carriage where they disappeared into.

"Is there still anyone in that carriage?" "No one is there any longer."

Seemingly at the same time, Oyado immediately replied. "Really?"

"Un."

They disappeared immediately? Was it teleportation?

I cut across those mercenaries who were still in the middle of discussion, and arrived before the carriage. After pondering for a bit, I took out a box similar to an old television set.

Of course, it's not an actual old television, but a Magic Trap Detection Device (Cheapest Version) I bought from the black market, which Aliyah introduced to me before.

I had no other choice, I didn't have enough funds, alright? This thing wasn't cheap, after all, it's a patented item. Even the cheapest one was worth a 1,000 gold, it's basically daylight robbery! Once I get the opportunity, I will have Dale or Lanya take a look at it, and probably have them make one that's both affordable and convenient to carry.

"What's this?"

As I expected, Dale came forward in an instant, and stared at the thing I was holding while inspecting it.

"It's something really useful. In short, it's something really useful."

"With that explanation of yours, I don't understand anything at all, you know." "If I were to really explain it, you will definitely want to dissemble it."

"Eh? Am I really a science freak in your eyes?"

"It's not just in my eyes, you're definitely one."

"You bastard, you really aren't merciful in anything you say, huh."

"To a science freak, I think it's best to convey what I want to say directly. After all, we're talking about a science freak here."

"You... Do you have some sort of prejudice against scientists?"

"No, it's definitely not prejudice. It's the correct idea of a scientist, that's all." After saying that, I ignored him, and activated the device.

"Un, un. A lightning-type trap, is it? It even has an one-way message transmitting

function. It's rather complicated, huh." "So, what is this?"

"You still don't understand? It's a Magic Trap Detection Device."

"Oooooh, speaking of which, something like this is more useful in a world like this, huh."

As I expected, he began entering into a state of deep thoughts. I quickly placed the device back into my ring. I don't wish for this thing to be disassembled after a single use.

But since I know about the item that could be found inside, I won't be able to forgive myself if I don't open the carriage.

But, I currently do not possess any pick-locking skill. Even if I have a skeleton key, I won't be able to open the carriage either, and there's a magic trap set-up as well.

However, as long as I remove the magic trap, there shouldn't be anymore problems.

With this thought in mind, I took out Thief's Equipment No. 2. Although it looks like a pot lid, it's a very incredible item.

"Hey, Dale, do you have an empty medium-grade magic crystal on hand?"

To differentiate between magic crystals, they are categorized based on their sizes. The detection device on my hand requires the use of a medium-grade magic crystal.

"Eh? What do you need that sort of thing for?"

Although he asked that sort of question, he still immediately took out the crystal from his inventory.

I took the crystal and equipped it on the device. Then, I pointed at the carriage, and flipped the switch.

With a flash of electrical light, a ray of purple light was emitted from the carriage, and it was transferred into the crystal. The crystal which was initially colorless, turned purple. Looks like the magic particles have been fully absorbed.

"Alright, time to work. Oyado, kick the door open." "Ehhh?"

Dale looked at me with a shocked expression, and from the other side, Oyado

suddenly rushed over. "Alright, big brother~" Bang!

Oyado kicked onto the carriage's door. With a loud bang, the door actually flew

out from the other side of the carriage! Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey!

"Oyado! I only told you to kick it open! Not send the door flying!"

"Eh? You can't blame me, big brother. The door was simply too fragile."

"No, no, no. Your attack was just too powerful... Ah whatever, it's fine either way."

Under the weird gaze of all the mercenaries, I walked into the carriage. But... when I entered the place, I realized it was completely different than the other carriages, which was filled with goods!

Magic formation, and magic crystals.

When I looked around, the entire carriage was filled with magic crystals. And in the center of the carriage, a magic formation was drawn.

This is most probably a teleportation magic formation, right? Although it looks a little complicated... I still pressed the screenshot button next to the inventory button on the menu, and took a picture of the magic formation. It might be useful later on, after all.

"Hey, everyone, those three have fled."

I immediately shouted to all of the mercenaries outside. "Eh? What!?"

"They fled? What is going on?" "Hey hey, what's this situation!?"

Everyone flooded over, rushed into the carriage, and furiously charged back

outside.

"Hey, hurry and open the city gate!"

"Those bastards registered in the mercenary guild! We must definitely find out who did this!"

"They actually fled! That's too irresponsible!"

After saying that, some of them even ran towards the other carriages. They probably thought of searching through the stuffs in the rest of the carriages.

Eh? The other carriages?

"Hey! Wait a minute, everyone! There's magic traps installed in them!"

But, the moment I shouted this out, one of their hands had actually already grabbed onto the door of one of the carriages.

Ah, crap...

But, something like this happening is a must in a scenario like this, in usual cases... "In usual cases, at a time like this, the enemies would appear out of the carriages." I helplessly muttered to myself.

A ray of electrical light shot across all of the carriages. After a moment of silence,

with a 'Pa' sound, something leaped out of that carriage.

Immediately after, similar things charged out of the rest of the carriages at the same time. A moment later, a total of nine people... no, a total of nine dolls rushed out of the carriages, and looked towards the guy who opened the door.

"This... This is..."

That mercenary retreated in a hurry, but, the doll nearest to him had already raised its arm, as it charged towards him!

"This is really... troublesome! Accelerate! Charge!"

I fiercely accelerated and stretched out my right hand, as I stabbed towards the doll's hand with my hidden blade!

Dang!

"Oh? I didn't even pierce through its skin? Just what are they made of?"

The female-looking doll in front of me wore a kimono, and its black long hair scattered in the air like a black flower.

It looked like a perfect work of art, though the only drawback was that there wasn't a single expression on its beautiful face.

Probably because while it was being constructed, its face was also made incomparably rigid, right?

"Even that's the case, it doesn't meant that it can't be sliced open! Arcane - Iaido!" A white sword light flashed, and the arm of the doll in front of me was sliced away!

And it fell onto the ground.

"Really, even though it's a work of art, we have no choice but to break it."

As he said that, Bai Yueguang kicked towards the doll, but it nimbly flipped onto the top of the carriage.

It looked at it's broken arm, and suddenly, it opened it's mouth wide. Countless pieces of paper flew out, and formed a new arm!

"Hey hey, what is this? A super convenient repair method?"

"Using paper to repair itself... This thing isn't a doll, but a Shikigami, right?" "Shikigami...!?"

The moment he said that, above those dolls... no, above those Shikigamis, their names were revealed.

Sky Queen (Dark - 1) LV 20 ?????/?????

A shikigami with an appearance of a high-class lady, and possess charming abilities.

Color Representation: Black Number Representation: 9