CH 97

Escape 2

I carried Cecile on my back as I walked into the city.

I zigzagged away from the main street and towards an alley.

“Allen, aren’t we going to stay at an inn?”

“We can’t.”

Cecile asked me a question as I proceeded erratically towards an alley, avoiding the main street. There were a few inns on the main street, but I bypassed them.

As we continued down the alley, Hollow, who was monitoring the gate of this city with [Night Vision], spotted Dagraha.

(Mmm, I knew he would have some kind of permit.)

Dagraha showed some kind of permit to the gatekeeper and entered the city through the same gatekeeper’s door.

Then he started moving again at high speed.

(I am glad his skill is a footprint tracker and not the map type.)

I had completed my analysis of Dagraha’s tracking skill by escaping for the past several hours.

When I was Kenichi in my previous life, I had played many class-based games. Basically, as a Warrior or a Wizard, I have used strong weapons and powerful magic to deal a lot of damage to my enemies. I was a total brute-force type player. So I have very little experience with tangled professions like Thief.

However, I did play as Thief sometimes, so I have a good knowledge of what they do.

In my opinion, there are two kinds of tracking.

In the first type, the target’s footprints can be seen on the field, and the target can be tracked.

In the second type, the coordinates of the target are displayed on the map, and the target can be tracked.

Dagraha was using the first kind and I am 100% sure about it.

Because when Dagraha was chasing us, he took turns at the exact places where I took a turn and I know this because I observed his actions via Hollow.

If he could see my position in some kind of coordinates, he would not do so, but would follow me using the shortest distance while correcting the direction.

Right now, Dagraha was following the same zigzag path I took in vain.

(Time to finish this up.)

“Hah!”

I jumped and started moving on the roofs of the houses. In order to avoid being chased immediately, I moved away from Dagraha, keeping more and more distance between them.

(Okay, we lost him! My analysis was perfect. It’s a hundred years too soon for him to be chasing me!)

I watched as Dagraha panicked with the help of Hollow. He headed back down the street, wondering if he made a mistake because he was moving so closely. It hadn’t occurred to him that I countered the search, and that I would jump on top of houses.

I was standing on a wall, the outer wall of the city.

“What? You’re not going to fight? Aren’t you strong?”

In Cecile’s mind, I seem to be quite strong.

“Yes, he’s a bit of a pain in the ass. I probably won’t win.”

(I don’t have a ten percent chance of winning by any means. My summons are slow. Even if I trap him and ambush him, he’ll probably dodge. Even if a few attacks go through, he can just use a healing potion and that’s it. Now let’s get out of this city. Bron, come on out.)

I summoned Bron outside the city and ordered it to raise its shield horizontally on top of it’s head. I jumped on Bron’s shield and summoned another Bron and ordered the same thing.

Repeating the same thing, jumping on and off the two Brons, I left the city without leaving any footprints for several kilometers.

(I don’t think he’ll recognize Bron’s footprints as the same as mine, but I’ll do this from time to time to cover our tracks.)

This strategy can erase the footprints, but it slows down the movement speed considerably. Moving by running on the ground and using Stone Bron to erase the footprints several times, I aimed for the northern end of the White Dragon Mountains, which Hollow has already confirmed. There is a checkpoint at the northern end, and once we pass through it, we will reach the city of Grandver.

Soon after, I got ready for bed. It’s not going to be easy, but I don’t think I can make it back to the city of Grandver in a day or two.

I summoned Brons around the room, and took out the blankets and magical lights for the night from my <Inventory>.

“You have a Talent.”

Cecile said to me.

“Yes, I do and I can do a lot of things with it. It’s very convenient.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There’s no point in talking about Talent.”

“Yeah…”

It seems to be something that makes sense to Cecile.

“We need to move more tomorrow. Just get some rest.”

“Will you sleep as well?”

“I’m going to bed, too. Good night, Lady Cecile.”

“… Good night.”

(Well, I’d like to return within three or four days if possible.)

I checked Dagraha’s movements through Hollow while watching Cecile’s sleeping face.

And a few hours later, the next morning, I started running with a still sleepy Cecile on my back. I only took the break to sleep.

(Geez, he found my footprints on the roof. He’s good.)

Dagraha became aware of my tricks. I put away our luggage, woke up Cecile and started to move.

Dagraha was standing on top of the house that I jumped on. Soon, he would track me to the top of the wall. My footprints were not outside the city, and I could see him shifting his gaze from place to place, looking for my footprints.

(What do you think? There’s no footprints, are there?)

I continued to check on Dagraha’s movements as I ran. After confirming that there were no footprints, Dagraha began to run straight ahead. Then, after a few kilometers, he began to run in a circle around the city.

(What is he doing? What? This…)

Of course, since he was running in a circle, he would eventually run into my footprints. When he found my footprints, he resumed the pursuit.

(Oh, no. I need more distance to cover our tracks.)

After being spotted within a few kilometers, I headed for the northern end of the White Dragon Mountains, using Bron to cover our tracks for an even longer distance.

The distance between me and Dagraha repeatedly increased and decreased as Dagraha lost and found my footprints.

Then, on the second morning after running away from the city of Carnel, I successfully arrived at the checkpoint and entered the Grandver territory.

“What’s happened? Is something wrong?”

“Huh?”

Cecile sensed something was wrong with me after we crossed the checkpoint and seemed concerned about it.

(Gosh, since I’ve been noticed. I guess I’ll answer honestly here.)

“I just lost track of Dagraha.”

“What?”

I was checking on Dagraha’s position. When I was telling him that he was being chased, I said that he somehow had such skills.

Not long ago, when Eagle was following Dagraha, Dagraha started moving at a much faster speed than ever before. He was faster than Eagle.

Currently, several Eagles were looking for him, but they have not been able to find him. Since he’s faster than Eagles, it will be difficult to find Dagraha.

(I knew he had the skill to increase his speed all at once.)

I remembered how Dagraha had kicked me in the Magic Ship. I couldn’t track him with my eyes and he seemed to disappear for a moment. I thought he might have used this skill because of what he had said about skills. After being shown something like this, I completely recognized it as a skill.

(I never thought the skill is not limited.)

I thought the skill was a [Agility] increase limited to short distances, but it seems to be able to travel a great distance too. I started running as fast as I could.

“Allen, wouldn’t you be spared if you left me?”

“What? What are you talking about? I’m not leaving you.”

“But at this rate…”

(Hmm, Cecile is only 12 years old. She should not be thinking about something like this.)

This chase that has lasted a few days has definitely made her anxious.

“It’s all right. Let’s both go back to the city of Grandver safely. There’s no problem. Besides, I will keep my promise.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promised Young Master Mihai that I would always protect Lady Cecile. I’ll keep my promise.”

“Thanks…”

Cecile buried her face in my shoulder.

(I’ve said some cool things, but I’m going to have to take out insurance on this one. We’ve crossed the border, so it’s about time.)

I summoned multiple Eagles and ordered them to fly. Then, I used <Sharing> and used [Eagle Eye] to check the surroundings. This is so that I can immediately notice Dagraha.

On the third day of our escape, early in the morning, I was carrying Cecile on my back and heading for the city of Grandver.

I hurried on, hoping to reach the city of Grandver by the end of tomorrow if possible.

There was a magical beast staring at the Eagle summoned by Allen. That magical beast knew that there was a playmate near this bird.

He twisted his mangy dog-like face which had one eye missing, and started to move.