Enemy Across the Road

There were roughly three types of roads in Seapeak Port. The first was the widest, found only before City Hall and the residences of several lineages.

Roads of this standard were built from overlapping high-quality bricks and stones, with drainage channels half-buried beneath the ground on either side.

The second was the standard for the most important streets. Most such roads were paved with cobblestones, while the drains along both sides were the cheaper open-air kind.

But because the vendors on either side of the street always liked to toss their rubbish directly into them, such channels clogged easily and needed regular cleaning.

The third type was the narrow paths within alleyways, which often had no fixed width or standard.

Some were paved with stone slabs, while others were merely dirt paths trampled firm by pedestrians.

The street Heka and the others were on at the moment was the first type.

The Church certainly had enough clout. Heka had once heard from the Graytooth Gang that this place had originally been a theater, but the Church had made the theater vanish completely in a single night, replacing it with a towering cathedral.

Heka shifted the deadweight in his arms. He probably could not keep calling this fellow Tuft of Hair in the future.

After all, it looked like hair would grow where the tumors had once covered his head. Probably. Hopefully.

Come to think of it, he still did not know this kid's name. It seemed the boy had told him a long time ago.

The question now was how to get Tuft of Hair to say his name again without letting the kid know that his beloved boss had not even remembered it.

What a headache. Most street kids did not survive a single winter, after all.

He had picked this one purely because the kid was bizarre enough to catch a victim's attention.

Just as Heka was racking his brains, a figure on the opposite side of the street caught his eye. It was a dwarf wrapped in a gray shawl.

The gray shawl was a little too narrow for a dwarf, making it look like a canvas sail stretched taut beneath fierce winds.

Heka's face was reflected in the dwarf's eyes. The other man clearly had not received systematic tracking training—he had actually fixed his gaze directly upon the target, even meeting the target's eyes.

Or perhaps he simply did not care whether he was discovered.

Heka remembered that shawl. The moment he saw the man, his stomach and palms still throbbed faintly with pain.

"Dwarf Podoli, a member of Blood Sparrow."

Earlier, in order to make Heka understand the dangers of going out—and to reduce management costs—Deko had specifically educated him about his enemies: the members of Blood Sparrow.

According to Deko, Blood Sparrow did not seem to want money at the moment. They only wanted a life—Heka's life.

That was truly deadly.

Blood Sparrow Squad, Bronze Grade.

They were the sort of adventurer squad that ranked among the notable ones in Seapeak Port.

Their composition was highly balanced, and they excelled at jungle combat, guarding, escorting, seizing, occupying, and small-scale control.

Their reputation was fairly good, with no record of deliberately breaking contracts.

Registered location: Walin, Seapeak Port.

Registrant: Knight Black Tea, Third-Level Adventurer.

Members: Second-Level Adventurer, Ranger Kami.

First-Level Adventurer, Wanderer Foucault.

First-Level Adventurer, Half-Orc Al.

First-Level Adventurer, Dwarf Podoli.

This was a very conventional adventurer squad: three frontline fighters, one Wanderer responsible for scouting, and one Ranger responsible for filling gaps and launching ranged attacks.

They could handle nearly every danger their rank was likely to face.

Heka recalled the introduction he had seen once more. It had been a notice posted in the Adventurers' Guild.

That determined the squad's customers, so no proper adventurer squad would play petty tricks on it by concealing their skills.

If the Guild did not inspect their actual abilities and class levels, some squads would have loved to write that every member was a level-twenty legend skilled at slaying dragons.

Yet this perfectly ordinary résumé alone was enough to make Heka's scalp tingle. Their leader's class level of three was no idle decoration.

Although Heka still had not figured out how class levels were evaluated, for frontline personnel who needed to fight over long periods, there should not have been much water mixed into those rankings.

And as everyone knew, three was greater than one.

Heka placed the still-unconscious Tuft of Hair onto the carriage, then looked at the air before him.

Unfortunately, the [Challenge] section beneath the panel was still empty. It seemed the panel could only grant rewards after an enemy was killed and could not assign quests in advance.

If it could assign quests in advance, perhaps he could use it as an enemy-detecting radar.

"The enemy is across the street."

After climbing onto the carriage, Heka lightly patted the driver in front of him. The two armored warriors following behind also heard his warning.

People's gazes turned toward the street corner. There, the dwarf in that ill-fitting gray shawl bared his teeth in a grin and retreated into the crowd behind him.

"Mr. Carpenter, do we have a way to contact reinforcements?"

Heka looked at the warrior who worked part-time as a carpenter. Due to work, the two of them had spent a great deal of time together.

Perhaps for that reason, Deko had sent the carpenter this time.

What surprised Heka somewhat was that this carpenter was actually highly respected by the people around him. The moment they met, with barely any exchange between them, he took command of the entire escort team.

"My name is Thirl. Do not call me Carpenter. Carpenter is the driver's nickname.

"You mean communication magic? No, we do not have that. That stuff is expensive.

"But we have other ways to let the boss know we have been attacked."

The carpenter shook his head, then knocked on the carriage window. As two red-and-white flags were raised atop the carriage, the group following behind immediately halted, apparently preparing to support them when the opportunity arose.

Heka frowned. The enemy clearly already knew they were coming here. Under surveillance, they would surely have seen that barely disguised group.

The enemy was in the dark, and they might even have a third-level knight. The detached group was no longer a surprise force, but an isolated army that could be cut off at any moment.

Still, he had never received command training in a world where superhuman beings existed. Perhaps the other side had some deeper intention.

"They would not dare make a move on the main street. Otherwise, even the local lineages would not tolerate them.

"Perhaps we can—"

Before the carpenter who was not called Carpenter could finish analyzing the situation, a group of guards clad in arming coats emerged from a distant alley.

The carpenter who was not called Carpenter instantly stopped his analysis and patted the driver called Carpenter in front of him, signaling him to move at once.

"Marnie Lineage dogs. Looks like they intend to herd us into the trap. Then let us see whether they have the ability to do it.

"Take Route Three. Tell the people behind us to wait for us by the bakery."

The carriage began to accelerate. Curses from pedestrians rang out outside, but the carriage showed no sign of slowing down.