Pursuit
When I woke up, I had a big back.
"Oh, you're awake."
"…………Reynold?"
"Yeah. You were sleeping soundly. Are you okay?"
"air……"
Currently, Sasha is piggybacking on Reynold.
I hurried downstairs and Piazzolla hugged me.
"Ahhh!! Sasha, are you okay? I've healed even your scratches perfectly!! Does it hurt? Are you okay?"
"Piazzolla... you? Actually, Tycoon and Robin too."
"Please don't make me worry at all."
"Hehe. Everyone stopped working and rushed over to Sasha's place."
"everyone……"
When Reynold and the others heard the report that Sasha had gone alone into the foggy forest to rescue Roran, they immediately sprung into action.
Reynolds says.
"Even if we become a clan, we're still team Sacred. If our leader moves, we'll move too. That's what it means to be friends, right?"
"Reynold..."
"Hehe, isn't it cool?"
"Yeah. Fufu... you helped me, huh? Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. I just carried it."
Sasha was happy to find out that the big man who had helped her was Reynold.
And then, I suddenly realize.
"Wait, where's Laurent?! He's still in the forest."
"No. Presea saved Roland. He collapsed together with Sasha near the entrance to the forest."
"Really? What about Presea?"
"He's gone home. I guess he just happened to be nearby."
"...I see."
Maybe Haise was there too?
Sasha thought about this and looked in the direction of the foggy forest.
◇◇◇◇◇
"Hey, is that okay?"
"What?"
"Don't you think it was Haise who rescued Sasha? I just had to hand her over to the unconscious Loran."
"It's fine. There's no need to say it every single time, and it's annoying to be thanked for unnecessary things."
"Yeah. Well, that's okay."
Haise returned to the royal capital a little early.
After rescuing Sasha, Haise returns to Presea to find Loran unconscious, having lost all tension. Haise leaves Sasha in Presea's care and heads to the royal capital. There, Presea, who handed the two over to him, joins them.
They were heading towards the Adventurer's Guild.
He explains to Geist that he has rescued Sasha and left her in Reynold's care.
"I see, you're safe... I'm glad."
Geist was relieved.
Haise then took out some of the items he had collected from his item box.
"Geist-san, there's something I've been wondering about."
"nothing?"
"This. Also, what was that thing you told me about the 'abilities' of an S-class adventurer that you told me about before..."
"…………"
After hearing Geist's story and comparing it to the "thing" he had recovered, Haise became convinced.
When he explained this conviction to Geist, he clutched his head.
"…………I see."
"Geist, can you call him?"
"...It's possible."
"please"
"…………"
Geist nodded silently, called over an experienced receptionist, and began writing the letter.
◇◇◇◇◇
"...Tch, so you're here."
"head?"
"You have been summoned to the guild. The location is... ah? Why the forest on the outskirts?"
"Are you going?"
"Yeah. I can't ignore the guild's summons. Oh well, it's no big deal."
"Hey. Well, be careful."
Chaos, the S-class adventurer who had been summoned, headed to the place where he had been summoned without much thought.
What was waiting for them there was not a Geist.
Haise, an S-class adventurer wearing a jet black coat and an eyepatch.
Haise takes out an item from his item box and throws it.
With a clang, the ``Fence'' was thrown in front of Chaos and rolled away.
"Apparently this fence has been coated with a corrosive poison."
Standing before Chaos was Haise.
He specifically called Chaos to a forest on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Heiberg.
Chaos was also coming, but he just looked at Haise without saying anything.
"Your ability is "poisonVenom"...I heard from Geist that you can secrete a poisonous fluid. I believe your fighting style is to inflict it on knives or weapons and then fight."
"……in?"
"That's what Roland said. He was hit by someone... To begin with, the request that Roland and his group accepted was strange. Their main mission was to gather medicinal herbs, so there's no way they would come to the dangerous Foggy Forest. Medicinal herbs don't grow in the Foggy Forest after all. Someone manipulated the information so that they would accept the request, and someone hiding in the forest framed Roland so that he would be left behind."
"…………"
"Only Sasha was able to move freely. I targeted the time when Reynold and the others were away from the clan, and arranged for Sasha to go to the forest alone. Then... I arranged for Sasha to grab the rotten railing and fall into the valley below."
"…………You don't think that's me?"
Chaos tilted his head, grinning.
The evidence is too weak to support this.
"You think I'm the culprit just because the handrail was poisoned? The poison just happened to stick to the handrail during the battle, right? If so, the Adventurer's Guild is to blame for not checking the handrail. Besides, wasn't it Sasha who grabbed the rotten handrail and fell into the valley? Am I also to blame for not paying attention to what was ahead?"
"…………"
"I called Sasha out here to the suburbs, and she made a mistake and was framed, and I'm the culprit... or what? Hey, brat, just because she's an S-class adventurer, is it okay to make such a accusation?"
"This is not an allegation. You are the culprit."
"You say stuff like that without any evidence? How arrogant of you, hey. What about you, the adventurer who conquered the Six Forbidden Labyrinths?"
"…………"
"Well, whatever. If that's all I need, I'll be heading home."
Chaos turned around with a grin and waved.
Then, Haise tossed another "Fence" from his item box.
It passed over Chaos' head and rolled right in front of him.
"Tch... what's up, kid? Are you still there?"
"Look closely at that fence."
"Huh?"
The fence had indeed been coated with corrosive poison.
Same as the first fence.
However───Chaos was shocked.
"Huh..."
The tip of a broken knife was stuck in the fence.
"It's a fence that had fallen next to Sasha. The tip of your knife is stuck in it. You... you used your ability to cut into the fence, right? That's when the knife broke. This is what happens when you use a cheap knife, you idiot."
"N-No way!! My knife didn't break!! There's no way I'd use a cheap knife that would break just from scraping the fence and pouring in poison!! I checked properly----..."
Chaos gasped and covered his mouth... but it was too late.
Haise smirked.
“Make sure you check it properly… Geist-san, did you hear?”
"Huh?!"
"Yes, I heard."
Then, a Geist appeared from behind Chaos.
It exuded a chilling, cold, murderous aura.
Haise continues.
"Yeah, I broke the knife. Don't worry, your knife didn't break. Well... I guess I did show my stupidity though."
「Y-you…!!」
"When I heard about corrosive poison, I immediately thought of you. However, the evidence wasn't strong enough with just the fence. That's why... I decided to frame you. I was sure I'd find out."
"Ugh, ugh..."
"You're the one who tampered with the fence in the Dense Fog Forest, used Roland as bait to lure Sasha into a trap."
"───……Ugh, damn it!!"
Chaos pulled out his knife and came towards Haise.
Haise readied his two Desert Eagles, but without a sound, Geist stepped in between him and Chaos.
Then, with a snake-like movement, he grabbed Chaos' wrist and twisted it, causing him to drop the knife, then delivered a high-speed front kick to his groin, stomach, and neck, before finishing with a palm strike to his jaw.
"You idiot."
With that cold statement, Chaos fell to the ground.
I was completely unconscious.
Haise could do nothing but stare dumbfounded at the Geist's back.
