Chapter 212: The 'Gale' Murder Case!
Smack!
Ethan slapped a hand over his face. Sure enough, all that posing had been wasted.
Aizen-sama's famous quote might sound incredibly cool, but it depended on who you said it to. Say something like that to an expressionless airhead, and she simply would not get it.
"Fine. Why do you want to come with me?"
"Because I grow stronger faster when I'm with you."
As expected of Ais. Her answer surprised absolutely no one. It was simple and straightforward.
"Not today. I have a Guild commission. I need to investigate traces of Evilus on the 27th floor."
"The 27th floor? Investigating Evilus?"
"Hm? What is it?"
Hearing Tione suddenly speak, Ethan looked at her in confusion.
"Recently, the Guild's wanted criminal, [Gale], appeared again. She's currently wandering around the 27th floor, and apparently quite a few people have been attacked. The Guild has issued another bounty."
"Gale? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. We only just came back ourselves, and we heard plenty of rumors along the way. We even confirmed it with the guy in charge at Rivira. Gale is somewhere in the lower floors."
"Sorry. Looks like I don't have much time. See you later."
After saying that, Ethan quickly left.
Wasn't Gale Ryuu?
Ryuu had appeared in the Dungeon and was even wanted again. There was definitely something wrong here.
Moreover, Ethan had a bad feeling, one that made him extremely uneasy.
First, Evilus suddenly appeared again. Then the Guild specifically gave him a mission. Now Ryuu had appeared in the Dungeon again under the identity of [Gale].
There was absolutely something going on behind all this.
"Eh…"
Watching Ethan leave, Tione opened her mouth. Wasn't he being a little too hurried?
Could he know Gale?
No, that should not be possible. Ethan had not even come to Orario when Gale became wanted. She had disappeared for years before suddenly appearing again. There should be no connection between them.
"I'll go too—"
Ais was just about to follow when Tione grabbed her.
"Ais, he has something important to handle right now. If you follow him, you'll only cause trouble."
"But…"
"When we get back, ask Loki to negotiate with the Freya Familia. Our two Familias are cooperating now anyway. There'll definitely be a way."
"Right. I'll ask Loki."
Ais nodded. Loki also knew about [Liaris Freese], so she would definitely help her.
Poor Loki.
The precious cabbage she had carefully raised was already starting to stop coming home, forcing her again and again to let her beloved Ais act together with an extremely dangerous man named Ethan Starfall.
...
Meanwhile, Ethan rapidly rushed toward the lower floors.
With his current speed, crossing these floors posed no difficulty at all. He came down here almost every day while completing [Daily Quests], so after enough time, he naturally knew the routes extremely well.
...
"This is horrible…"
"Tell me about it. Something like this probably only happened back in those years."
"Those years?"
"Yeah. The years when Orario was constantly in chaos."
"You mean…"
Several older adventurers clearly had reservations, so they did not say the name directly. But they all understood what the others meant.
Only the newer blood who had arrived in Orario in recent years knew nothing about that dark period in the city's history.
Inside a cavern, severed limbs were scattered across the ground. Several corpses even showed obvious signs of having been "eaten."
They had been killed first, then their bodies had been devoured by monsters afterward.
It was a miserable sight.
Not a single corpse was intact. The surrounding rock walls were covered in dark-red bloodstains, and the pungent smell of blood filled the cavern.
Moreover, the wounds on these bodies were all clean cuts.
They had clearly been caused by blades, not monster attacks.
"This was murder, not a monster attack. Someone deliberately killed them."
Bors, a broad-faced man wearing a black eye patch, reached his conclusion after investigating the scene.
As the rough leader of Rivira, he still carried some authority among adventurers.
"It had to be [Gale]! She appeared again! She did this…!"
"Gale? Are you sure?"
Bors looked suspiciously at the speaker. After all, this was a serious matter.
It was not because he possessed some great sense of justice.
Rather, if it truly was [Gale], then capturing her would earn them the Guild's considerable bounty.
"I saw a hooded elf. She looked possessed and stabbed Arjan several times before quickly leaving."
The speaker was a wolf-type beastman whom quite a few people in Rivira knew, so many of them believed his words.
"I've seen [Gale] before."
"She used to be with those monsters from the [Astraea Familia]. She was an elf who always kept her face covered…"
"I once saw those sky-blue eyes beneath her mask. They were exactly the same eyes I saw today!"
As he spoke, the werewolf seemed to recall something. In the end, fear even appeared on his face, and his body trembled slightly.
No one around him found it strange.
After all, [Gale] had slaughtered several Familias by herself back then. Her vicious reputation was well known. Being afraid of her was perfectly understandable.
"There's no mistake! Arjan was killed by [Gale]!"
"That reminds me. I think I also saw someone hiding their body beneath a cloak rushing across the Great Plains…"
"Ah, I saw them too! That person ran straight toward the Large Tree Labyrinth and headed down to the lower floors."
One "witness" after another appeared.
What had originally been a confusing incident was quickly treated as settled fact.
"Bors, let's go kill [Gale]!"
"Hm?"
The sudden suggestion caught Bors completely off guard.
Kill who?
That was Gale. A monster who had wiped out several Familias by herself, and that was years ago. Who knew how strong she had become now?
Kill her?
Wouldn't they just be delivering themselves straight to her?
'You brat, are you trying to get me killed so you can take my position?'
"Arjan, one of our companions from town, died such an unfair death! Even a 'town of thugs' should show some loyalty, right?"
"Heh."
Hearing that, Bors laughed.
Loyalty?
If they cared about loyalty, would they still be thugs?
…
(Don't forget to vote, review, and leave a comment below! :D The more you vote, the more chapters I upload.)
...
Read more chapters(25+):
patréon.com/U22
(Note: Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.)