Wait, Goddess Krista... was gone?
The tension that had only just eased instantly tightened again. Lianye's face took on an expression even colder than when he had fought Kha'Zix. That icy expression signaled a considerable degree of cruelty.
Hmm, Blade Empress, Kha'Zix. Not bad.
End of Chapter
The True Hunter Never Rests
"Lianye... where did you just go?"
Among the Expeditionary Team members, trapped in an oppressive atmosphere, Armin was the first to spot Lianye returning.
As merely the recorder, he had no way to handle the current situation. It was better to let the captain decide.
"Just a little personal business."
"I see, but..."
Armin was slightly disappointed. Though he wanted to question why Lianye, as their captain, had disappeared at such a critical moment, seeing the look on his face that said he would offer no explanation, Armin knew he would not get an answer.
Naturally, Lianye would not readily reveal anything about the Void to anyone. The people of this world already had an extremely hard time dealing with Titans; before the monsters of the Void, they were even less worth mentioning. Telling them would be pointless.
"Let's put my business aside for now. Tell me what happened first." Lianye slowly walked into the crowd as he spoke, stretching his limbs. He had a sharp premonition that he would not be getting any rest next.
And a true hunter never rested.
"Right, it happened like this—"
Armin was the recorder, and his mind was relatively quick, though his personality was somewhat timid.
He had just opened his mouth to explain in detail when Eren suddenly raised his head and interrupted him with an angry shout.
Eren's eyes were wide, his teeth clenched, his face filled with furious yet helpless indignation. "If everyone had gone in together, there definitely would have been a way..."
"That's just your opinion. I don't think so—rather, it was your recklessness that put everyone in danger." Jean covered his cheek, where there was a mark from a bullet grazing him. Though the blood had already dried, it was convincing enough.
Facing a band of armed bandits, trying to resist was nothing but recklessness. Firearms might have been ineffective against Titans, but their lethality against ordinary humans was beyond question.
"So here's the question—where is Krista now?"
Lianye could not be bothered to deal with the dispute between Eren and Jean. Although he approved more of Eren's hot-blooded resistance, backing down before the bandits as Jean had was only human nature.
Eren's resistance had been effective, after all. The Expeditionary Team were all well-trained soldiers, but two fists could not beat four hands, much less when every member of the bandit group had a gun.
No one besides Eren had the courage to fight back; Jean had merely been more frank in admitting his cowardice.
Even as captain, Lianye had no right to blame them for doing nothing. Worse still—he had not even been there at the time.
"She's in the bandits' hands. They said they would release her once the goods were out of the forest—as long as we don't follow them, Krista will be safe."
Armin said this. Under the threat of the bandits' guns and with Krista held hostage, they could only compromise.
The bandits' target was the ODM Gear that every new recruit in the Expeditionary Team possessed. This equipment represented the pinnacle of this world's technology and forging craftsmanship, so naturally it held great collector's value.
But only soldiers in the corps could obtain ODM Gear, making it extremely scarce on the black market. Sold to inland nobles, it could fetch a very good price.
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